


Hey, What's This?

by SpiritBloodDragon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: (like to the nth degree), Bad Jokes, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Bromance, Camaraderie, Canon Compliant, Friendship, Hinata Shouyou & Kozume Kenma Friendship, Hinata Shouyou is Sunshine, Humor, Inspired by Fanfiction, Kozume Kenma & Kuroo Tetsurou Friendship, Mid-Canon, No editing whatsoever man, Oikawa's actually a respectable person?, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Plans For The Future, Rivalry, Slow To Update, T.V, what am I doing with my life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 10:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 82,912
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25348999
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpiritBloodDragon/pseuds/SpiritBloodDragon
Summary: There was a lot of things that the volleyball players in Haikyuu had seen. Lot of stuff they've done. Said to each other, done at practice, everything. There were also very few things they'd be surprised from.Of course, seeing themselves on T.V wasn't one of them.So, what happens when, after Karasuno loses to Aoba Johsai in the Preliminaries, 8 people from 4 different teams watch a good old T.V show...with them in it?~~~In which a bunch of characters from Haikyuu come together to watch Haikyuu!!
Relationships: All platonic relationships, I guess there are vaguely hinted ships?, Like probably Kenhina if you squint or maybe Iwaoi and Bokuro?, Oikawa/Actually being respected, god it's not a relationship but it won't let me say otherwise I'm sorry, hm I'll put that down, i genuinely don't know - Relationship, minor Hinata Shouyou/Kozume Kenma - Relationship
Comments: 32
Kudos: 133





	1. Hey, What's This?

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Power to Strive](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/650779) by ii-phoenix-ii. 



> hi! this is just a fic where oikawa, hinata, iwaizumi, kageyama, kenma, kuroo, akaashi, and bokuto watch haikyuu!
> 
> this was inspired by ii-phoenix-ii on fanfic.net for their series "Power to Strive!"
> 
> i hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Note: I actually haven't checked if there are other fics that do the same thing that I'm about to do in the Haikyuu fandom, and if there are, I didn't mean to steal their idea or anything. I apologize if I made that error. Please do tell, though, cause I'm too lazy to check. :/ )

"Hey, Bakageyama! Over here!" Hinata waved his hand excitedly as his partner came into sight. "Did you get the note from Coach?!"

In an instant, there was a hand squeezing Hinata's scalp with the force of a vice, causing the shorter boy to howl, "Quiet down, it's like...four in the morning. I don't know why I'm even awake, so shut up for a bit."

As the grip lessened, Hinata held his hands on his head, rubbing it in an attempt to alleviate the pain, "Jeez, good morning to you, too..."

The two of them showed each other the notes they'd supposedly received from Coach the night before telling them to wake up at 4 and go to the room they were standing in so that there could be a talk between them and a few other players from a few different teams.

Two pairs of footsteps approached.

"Ew, why is Tobio-chan here?" A familiar voice whined, causing the two Karasuno players to freeze and turn to the voice.

"Shut up, Asskawa," a voice belonging to the second pair of footsteps growled. If the deeper tone of voice wasn't any indication, the insult certainly was.

"The Grand King!" Hinata gasped, as Kageyama got in a defensive position, waiting for Oikawa to try to pull a prank. "What are you doing here?"

Oikawa beamed at the title, smirking proudly, "Well, Chibi-Chan, I got a note from my coach saying to come here early in the morning so we could talk about some sort of training camp!"

Hinata's eyes sparkled, causing even Iwaizumi to soften a little bit at his passion, "REALLY?! That's awesome! I'll be able to play against the Grand King and so many strong players so much!"

"Jesus, Hinata, I thought I told you to shut it," Kageyama groaned, smacking him on the back of the head.

"Man, here I was, thinking that he wasn't going to take after you," Iwaizumi sighed. "Guess both of you got that 'hurt teammate' instinct, don't you?"

"Hey!" The two setters argued in unison, only further proving the ace's point. "We're nothing alike!"

Hinata tried to stop the two from arguing and yelling at each other, getting in between them, "Hey, come on, guys! We're supposed to wait for our coaches!"

"Jeez, is this supposed to be a coach gathering or something?" Someone crooned. "Jeez, four country bumpkins? Disgustin'."

"Honestly, I don't know why Coach didn't choose Lev or something. Why'd it have to be us two?" Someone else complained, clearly distracted. As the already present volleyball players realized who those voices belonged to, Hinata smiled brighter.

"Kenma!" Hinata greeted.

Kenma lifted his head a little bit, still paying most of his attention to his phone, "Oh. Hi, Shouyou. What are you guys doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing," Iwaizumi countered. "Aren't you two from Tokyo?"

"Mhm," Kuroo nodded, putting a hand on his hip. "But Coach said we were meeting up with some country bumpkins to talk about this training camp that we're supposed to have with Fukurodani and maybe Shiratorizawa."

"No! No way am I having a training camp with Ushijima!"

Of course, at the complaint, Kageyama couldn't help but take the opportunity, "Hey, Oikawa? Shouldn't you have gone to Shiratorizawa?"

Unfortunately, Hinata didn't seem to know how to play along, "But Ushiwaka said that Seijoh was concrete and that everyone else there was weak!"

Oikawa gasped dramatically, a harsh expression gracing his features, "No way am I going to let him insult my Iwa-Chan!"

"I'm not yours to begin with, monkey."

"Rude!"

"KUROOOOOOO!" A loud, boisterous voice joined the conversation, but when they all turned to the source of the voice, there was nobody there. That is, there was, until the familiar owl spiker started sprinting down the length of the gym to meet up with them.

"WHY ARE WE HAVING A MEETING IN A STORAGE ROOM?!" Bokuto's voices howled excitedly, causing Kuroo to smirk in return to his question.

"We're gonna have a training camp. You ready to go down?!" He challenged, somewhat provoked at his presence.

"Hey, I'm still a Top 5 Ace!"

"Yet you still have an emo mode," Akaashi's voice joined in as he caught up, not even bothering to sprint anywhere near the pace of Bokuto. "So, what are all of us doing here?"

"Well, we all got notes to enter the room once everyone was here so that nobody else would think it would be suspicious if we entered separately..." Kageyama explained, causing Oikawa to snort.

"As if it isn't suspicious that we're all entering this room at once in the first place."

"Well, no harm in doing it," Kenma sighed, not too comfortable with this. He didn't like the idea of having to go into a room with who seemed to be the actual loudest people on Planet Earth, and he would much rather be in bed right now.

In reality, all of them would, the sole exception being Hinata.

As the eight of them entered, the door suddenly slammed behind him.

"Huh, that's weird," Akaashi noticed, but brushed it off.

Nobody in the room couldn't shake the sudden feeling of being trapped, though none of them showed it.

There was a wall-mounted T.V in front of them, a table in the middle, and two couches that could each seat four people on them in the corners of the room to make it symmetrical.

On the table, they all noticed the paper with the gigantic 'READ ME!' sign with a smiley face with it. Suspicious, they eventually chose Oikawa to be the person to pick it up.

He read it out loud, "Hi! You've noticed the T.V in front of you now, and on this paper is a seating chart!" Lo and behold, there was a seating chart for where everyone was supposed to sit.

"We'll deal with that later," Kuroo shrugged. "Keep going."

"Of course, I think that you guys would like to know how your volleyball fate ends up and whatnot, so I'm going to serve the answers to you on a silver platter!" Oikawa continued.

"That's bull. Who says something as dramatic as volleyball fate?" Hinata complained.

"Hey, to be fair, you don't know how to add 3+5," Kageyama pointed out.

"Says the guy who forgot what the value of zero was!" Hinata retorted.

Kenma nudged the two of them, getting the two of them to stop. The shorter setter had put his phone away at this point in time, and he was slightly curious.

"Shush." He nodded at Oikawa, signaling the third-year to continue.

"Of course, Karasuno just got crushed by Aoba Johsai the week before, right?"

Kageyama and Hinata had a sour expression, causing Kuroo and Bokuto to snicker while Oikawa beamed at the acknowledgement.

"So of course, we'll be going through a recap of everything that happened where you guys watch yourselves, and after the first season, you guys will be watching into the future!"

"Okay," Kuroo snorted. "Now that is crap."

"I didn't wake up at 4 A.M for this," Kenma sighed, walking to the door to push it open. A creak. He pushed again, shaking the door as hard as he could.

"It's locked," he gulped. "Is there anything else on the letter?" 

Oikawa nodded, "Don't even try to get out of here for the next few hours. For the next 7 hours, the doors will be locked. Don't worry. Your absences have been accounted for. This will give you time to watch and talk about the events you will see.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,

S.B.D."

Kenma's face scrunched up, "So are we really stuck here?"

Akaashi shrugged, "I guess we are. It couldn't hurt to try, could it? I mean, this guy put food on the table for us, has a bathroom for us, and it seems like the T.V is ready."

Hinata hummed, walking to the remote and turning the T.V on, only to be met with a list of episodes.

"Well, let's start!" He chirped, as the volleyball players sat down. Kenma, Hinata, Kageyama, and Akaashi had occupied one couch while Kuroo, Bokuto, Oikawa, and Iwaizumi plopped down on the second.

The setter of Fukurodani sent Iwaizumi a pitiful look, seeing his face pale at the realization of who his couch-mates were.

"Episode 1: The End and the Beginning," Kageyama read out loud, clicking on the episode.

**A middle-school aged Hinata appeared on the screen, biking.**

Hinata gaped, realizing that whoever invited all of them here really did intend for them to watch themselves, seeing a younger version of himself.

"Hey, what's this?!" He squawked.

"Shhhh," Kenma nudged the boy next to him. "I'm trying to watch."

Hinata looked around the room, only to realize everyone else was glued to the T.V, shocked themselves that someone had somehow gotten a recording of the little crow without his knowledge.

Kuroo interrupted, "Chibi-Chan, do you remember ever being recorded like this?"

Hinata shook his head, "No, nobody really bikes with me to school since I move too fast. I bike on the sidewalk, too, so a car wouldn't have been slow enough to record me."

They all looked to the paper, and realized the same thing: Something, somewhere, was watching them from above, and were giving them some sort of forbidden knowledge.

Whatever the case, they were grateful. After all, who wouldn't be glad to have the opportunity to make their future better?

Hinata sighed. This was gonna be weird...


	2. Episode 1: The End & The Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> insert episode 1 description here
> 
> yeah i'm too lazy to copy the description here
> 
> uh
> 
> hinata spends three years to get a team and then gets crushed 8-25 or something

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh, hi!
> 
> This chapter kinda sucks!
> 
> Also, I wanna make a note on my update thingy. Since school's starting up again, I'm planning to release once a month, because I'll be real, I like writing but I don't have a ton of time to. So I'm working on it for at least one minute per day, and I'll get more in if I can!
> 
> enyoy

“Dumbass, did you really start the episode without watching the stuff before?”

“Why does that matter, Bakageyama?!” Hinata retorts, butting heads with his teammate.

“Maybe the intro’s cool or something,” Kenma mutters. “Besides, it’s the beginning of the show. There’s gotta be something to hook the watcher in, right?”

Kuroo snorted, “Thank you very much, Captain Obvious.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, “You’re welcome, Corporal Cunt.”

“Rude!” Rooster Head replied indignantly, crossing his arms playfully. Iwaizumi, who was sitting to the left of him, shuddered at the familiarity of the tone. It’d been a word he’d heard many a time from Oikawa, and he wasn’t a fan of thinking that he’d have to deal with it twice as much.

Akaashi cleared his throat, causing Bokuto to sheepishly scratch the back of his head without even saying anything out of sheer instinct, “If we can continue...this time, preferably starting from the beginning? It’d be nice to see what they’ve got in store.”

Hinata pressed the ‘play’ button once more.

**A pair of shoes stepped up to the edge of the court. Quickly panning up, a familiar orange-haired head popped up.**

“Hey, that’s me!” Hinata chirped, pointing excitedly at the T.V.

“Duh.”

Bokuto piped up, “Wait a minute, I don’t even know who you guys are.” Of course, he was referring to Karasuno and Aoba Johsai.

“Oh, us?” Hinata chirped. “We’re apparently supposed to have a training camp with you guys soon! Hinata Shouyou!”

“Kageyama Tobio,” the setter calmly explained.

“Oikawa Tooru!” The Grand King practically sang. “I’m the one who defeated those two a week or two back!”

“Shut it,” Iwaizumi elbowed him. “It was a team effort. Oh, Iwaizumi Hajime, by the way.”

Akaashi nodded, “Good to know, good to know. Since we haven’t met before, we’ll probably be meeting up in Season 2 or something.”

 **Hinata’s voice came in the form of his thoughts,** **_A tall, tall wall looms in front of me._ **

**A shot of the top of the volleyball net came next, a soft light from the gym light filtering in.**

**In a flash, three pairs of hands flew up above the net, looming over.**

Oikawa snorted, “Pretty sure the wall’s getting taller than 165 centimeters.”

“Hey!” Hinata barked, flushing a little bit at the embarrassing truth.

Kenma gently nudged Hinata, prompting him to calm down, “Hey, I’m pretty short, too.”

Bokuto interrupted the conversation, holding a finger up, “Yeah, but you’re almost 170 centimeters!”

“And he doesn’t really care about athletics,” Akaashi argues for Kenma, who’s grateful; he didn’t really know Bokuto that well, and he was too loud for the setter’s liking.

Kuroo cleared his throat, gesturing to the T.V, “You know, we’ve only gotten through 22 seconds of the episode, right?”

 **_What’s the view on the other side?_ ** **Hinata wondered, taking a deep breath.** **_What does it look like?_ **

**_The view from the top…_ ** **The camera panned out, showing the entire Karasuno gym.**

“Wait, I don’t remember standing there alone…” Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, a little confused.

“Yeah, especially you not moving?” Oikawa joked, before receiving a quick elbow from Iwaizumi. “Rude, Iwa-Chan!”

“Whatever you say, Shittykawa,” Iwaizumi muttered, though he was slightly curious as to how Hinata was even recorded like this without anyone else knowing.

**_It’s a view I could never see on my own._ **

“See, Bakageyama!” Hinata pointed out triumphantly.

“Shut it,”’ The milk addict barked.

Kenma and Akaashi could only glance at each other before shrugging, somewhat glad that they didn’t know the context behind the situation.

**Several more pairs of shoes joined Hinata at the line. A few were stretching, one pair hopping up and down a little bit.**

**_But if I’m not doing it alone…_ **

**A cacophony of voices was heard from the team, “Let’s play!”**

A ton of the voices were familiar, yet it was weird to hear them on a T.V.

“You wonder how this even happened?” Oikawa brought up to his couchmates. “I mean, think about it: This’ll probably show some of our matches, training camps, even stuff outside of volleyball...and none of us even knew that we were being recorded.”

Bokuto nodded in agreement, “Yeah, it’s kinda creepy. But hey, if we know what to expect and what we face in the future, I say it’s a-okay.”

Kuroo nodded, leaning back on the couch, “Yeah, besides, if we end up losing to someone, we’ll know what to expect and what we can work on.”

Iwaizumi could only nod, somewhat hesitant to start a conversation with them.

**Wheels pedalled across the sidewalk, before skidding to a stop.**

**“All right,” a voice was heard, panning out to reveal a young, extremely short Hinata.**

“Shou, you were even shorter than you are now?” Kenma asked, genuinely curious.

“H-Hey! I didn’t come out of the womb this tall, you know!”

“You mean this _short_.” 

**A soft breath was taken, the air cold enough to show the wintertime. As the camera focused on the T.V, Hinata could watch the volleyball players of Karasuno storm the competition.**

“Ah, so this is where he got into it,” Kuroo observed, smirking a little bit. “Who just gets into a game ‘cause of a show after a minute or two?”

Bokuto put a hand on his chin, before turning to his declared disciple, “Hinata, when you saw this, were you already into volleyball?”

Hinata thought back, humming out his response, “A little bit, but it wasn’t too much. I actually thought about going into basketball, but I’m not strong enough to take those sorts of blows.”

**Arms flew out behind the player, a crow’s wing following suit.**

**Hinata’s eyes widened a little bit, the screen of the T.V reflecting off his wide eyes.**

**As three blockers jumped up, a lone figure rose higher than all of them, his arm far extended.**

**In a flash, the T.V cuts to Hinata, metaphorical crow’s feather flowing past him with the wind.**

**_Score. The “Little Giant” lives up to his name. That’s five points in a row,_ ** **The announcer declares excitedly. The two men watching** **  
****the T.V clap, impressed.**

**_Here we are at the National High School Volleyball Championship Spring Season, where Karasuno High School’s Little Giant has been springing up and down among players 190 centimeters tall._ **

Oikawa snorted, “How tall was he anyways?”

Hinata scratched the back of his head, “I don’t remember off the top of my head, but I remember he was less than 170 centimeters.”

Akaashi leaned back in the couch, “Thought you would know it down to the millimeter, honestly.”

Kageyama scoffed, “You got into volleyball because he was short, so you wanted to, also?”

“Hey, don’t make it sound so stupid!” Hinata retorted.

**“Karasuno, isn’t that the school in our neighboring town?” One of the men asked. “Pretty impressive.”**

**Another young boy kept biking, stopping only to get Hinata’s attention, “Sho-chan, hurry. They’ll take the court.”**

“Oy, dumbass, isn’t that guy one of your friends who you played with in middle school?”

Hinata nodded, smiling a little, “Yeah, Izumi! He was the setter for the team.”

“Was he any good?” Oikawa asked, instantly interested in the conversation. As a setter himself, he automatically wanted to know anything he could so he could learn himself.

“Well...he was on the basketball team. I was just able to convince him to play with me since there was no official team at the school I went to,” Hinata explained, gaining a few confused looks from everyone there.

**A white flash came, before focusing on a large building. Specifically, its staircase.**

**_Approximately 3 years and 3 months later,_ ** **the screen read, indicating the timeskip.**

“Wait, so if you got into volleyball before middle school...why go to a middle school that didn’t have a volleyball team?” Akaashi asked, realizing the timeframe didn’t match up with Hinata’s goal.

“Uh...I just assumed that all schools had a volleyball team,” Hinata scratched the back of his head. “Well, Yukigaoka did have a volleyball team, but only a girl’s volleyball team.”

The rest of the room could’ve sworn that they lost some brain cells at that.

Well, everyone except Kageyama, of course.

**Footsteps pounded down the staircase, revealing Hinata and the rest of his volleyball team.**

**“Sho-chan, wait up!” Izumi called out, trying his best to catch up with his energetic friend.**

Kuroo whistled, “Wow, so you got a whole team all on your own.”

Hinata chuckled, embarrassed at the other players’ impressed nods, “Well, it took me three years to find enough players who were willing to help out.”

**Of course, Hinata didn’t end up waiting. He continued sprinting all the way into the gym, an awe-filled look on his face as he entered.**

**“It’s huge,” he whispered to himself, sniffing in the air of the gym. He’d never felt so small in his life, despite constantly feeling small wherever he went.**

**_In reality, he probably felt small in a kindergarten class._ **

“Wait a minute, I don’t remember anyone saying that!” Hinata sputtered, embarrassed at the exposure text passing by on the screen. He did, in fact, feel like he fit in with kindergarteners with their size. He just didn’t want to admit it.

“Maybe it’s the guy who found a way to record this,” Iwaizumi assumed, shrugging. Everyone else accepted it.

Kenma felt curious, “Shou, do you actually feel small with preschoolers?”

“N-No!”

Oikawa snorted, leaning over to whisper to Bokuto, “He totally does.”

**“The smell of Air Salonpas!” Hinata realized the familiarity, gasping with an anxious look.**

Kageyama couldn’t help but howl at the stupidity of the statement, far louder than the rest of the room.

Hinata flushed, “Hey, it does smell like that!”

“Really?” Bokuto asked, furrowing his eyebrows. “I always thought it just smelled like weird old people and sweat.”

Kenma pointedly scoffed, “Too much sweat, if you ask me.”

Kageyama snickered, “No, guys, isn’t it obvious? It smells like Air Salonpas.”

**“Sho-chan, you’re too nervous,” Izumi lightly chuckled, smiling at his friend, who’d never played a game of volleyball in his life.**

**“They’ll think you’re a country hick,” Koji reminded, the other players meek and tiny in the background.**

“Well, you already are country bumpkins,” Kuroo snorted, a smirk on his face. “Don’t think hicks could be much worse.”

Hinata stuck his tongue out at the captain playfully, proud of where he came from.

**“B-But I’ve never been in a real tournament before,” Hinata reminded and admitted, heart pounding in his chest. “Three years later and I’m finally here.”**

Kageyama slightly felt bad at how badly his team was beat, after all that effort.

Iwaizumi leaned over to ask, “You spent three years to get to a tournament? I’m impressed.”

Oikawa nodded, knowing the feeling of that passion that Hinata felt all too well, “Yeah, most people probably would’ve given up after a year or two. Good on you.” In reality, he wasn’t even sure if he’d be as adamant to play like the decoy was after two years of not being able to form a team.

Kageyama nearly gagged at the positivity and admiration that Oikawa had shown to Hinata.

After a few more remarks of positivity for the ginger, leaving Hinata’s face burning in pure embarrassment and sinking further into the couch to not be seen with the joy that he felt, the episode continued.

**“It’s sure been a struggle to get here,” Koji continued, somewhat disillusioned since he played soccer instead.**

Kenma shot a glance at Hinata, who’d slowly wormed his way up back to sitting, “Didn’t you notice that he wasn’t super into it?”

Hinata instead warmly smiled, bright eyes, “Yeah, I did, but the fact that he was willing to help me meant a ton.”

**As the camera panned to multiple teams warming up and stretching, even doing diving drills, Hinata turned back to his friends.**

**“Izumi, Koji, thanks for being here as helpers.”**

**They both blushed a little bit, Koji’s shoulders tensing a little bit, “S-Stop it.”**

“See! He’s almost as emotionally constipated as you, Kageyama!” Hinata chirped.

**Izumi laughed it off as he scratched the back of his head, “Our tournament’s already finished, so…”**

**The background turned into a simple shade as Hinata focused on the others, “First-year students, you too, thanks!”**

Bokuto hummed, “So, after you left, did they still keep the team going, or did the team just fall apart?”

Hinata smiled brightly, “The first-years actually started up a team after I left, so that’s really nice!”

**“It’s a miracle you three are here!” Hinata bowed, with the first-years not really sure how to respond.**

**“Oh, um, yeah,” one of them responded. “We’re total amateurs, but…’**

**“Sho-chan, stop crying,” Koji advised.**

**Hinata turned back to them, embarrassed, “I’m not crying.”**

Akaashi slightly smiled, quietly muttering, “He totally was.”

Iwaizumi, who did hear him, nodded in agreement.

**“You’re super tearful,” Izumi noted.**

Kageyama glanced at the bouncy ball of sunshine, “Jeez, you were like this your whole life?”

“H-Hey! It’s just that I get super excited!” Hinata defended.

**“U-Um, Hinata-senpai, we should get started,” one of the first-years stuttered.**

**“Come on, Captain. Get on the ball,” Izumi encouraged.**

**“That’s right,” Koji called out. “You dragged us here. We don’t even know the rules.”**

Oikawa snorted, “Did you explain it to them?”

“Yep!” Hinata chirped. “Unfortunately, I can’t really explain stuff that well, so…”

**“I-I know that,” Hinata’s voice cracked, before he took a deep breath. “We made it all the way to the tournament, so we have to win.”**

**“You think that we can win with our last-minute team pick?” A voice came as the tournament bracket came into view.**

**“Of course,” Hinata assured.**

**“What’s our opponent Kitagawa Daiichi like?” Another voice asked, as two heads passed by, the second one all too familiar.**

“Hey, look! It’s someone other than me!” Hinata observed, having gotten out of his slump by the efforts of the two setters nearby. “It’s Bakageyama!”

“Shut it, dumbass, we know,” Kageyama squeezed his head lightly, only receiving another playful tongue sticking out from Hinata.

Akaashi had no idea what to say to that.

**“I don’t know,” Hinata admitted. “But we’re going to do it.”**

**Footsteps were heard before Izumi and Koji became mortified. A huge group of players walked behind Hinata, towering above him by at least a full head.**

**As Hinata glanced back at them, he could’ve sworn that they were grown adults with how tall they were.**

**With a stubborn glance from a single one of them, Hinata froze.**

**“Whoops, sorry!” Koji interrupted, pulling him out of the way.**

**“C’mon!” Izumi whisper-yelled, getting Hinata and trying to keep him steady.**

“Oh, that’s Kindaichi,” Kageyama hummed. “Jeez, he looks like a demon.”

Hinata snorted, “You’re one to talk.”

Oikawa couldn’t help but snicker a little at that.

 **As the players walked by, Hinata couldn’t help but shake a little in fear,** **_They’re huge…_ **

“Oy, Chibi-chan,” Kuroo leaned forward. “When’d ya realize that this might’ve been not the best team to face?”

Hinata gulped, remembering, “You’ll see.”

Kenma put a hand on his shoulder, stopping the young boy from shaking so much at the fear he felt of how many tall people there were on the enemy team.

Nowadays, he felt proud of the fact that he was so much shorter, but back then?

_It was like looking into the eyes of a demon._

**In a flash, a king’s robe passed by, and Hinata followed it quickly to be met with the sight of one of the boys shown near the tournament bracket.**

“Hey, Hinata,” Kageyama started quietly. “Did you think I was the King before you even knew that was my title?” He held a little bit of resentment for his past actions, regret filling his tone.

Hinata softly smiled, hugging Kageyama in an affectionate comfort he knew his partner needed, “Absolutely, Bakageyama.”

“Hey! That doesn’t help!”

Oikawa couldn’t help but chuckle at the following banter that came between the two. He knew that he was envious of Kageyama’s talent, but he was glad that he’d moved on from being a tyrant. Hell, he respected the fact that he hated that past and was trying to improve.

**As the team walked off, Hinata froze at the sounds of thuds, before running out, “What the--?”**

**He was cut off with cheers, “Kita-ichi! Kita-ichi!”**

**One of the players from another team whispered, “That’s Kitagawa Daiichi.”**

**His teammate, sporting sports glasses, nodded, “They’re huge.”**

**One man from another team, who was currently stretching, muttered, “They’re so intimidating,” while another of his teammates explained how they were candidates to win.**

**One last team appeared, or at least, two members of them talked amongst each other.**

**“The ‘King’ is among them.”**

**“Who’s that?”**

**The camera cut to Yukigaoka, who was mortified at the mere thought of going against them. They all backed up into each other, looking for some sense of safety from the behemoth in front of them.**

“Holy fuck!” Kuroo cackled. “You actually were able to go against that without surrendering on the spot?!”

Bokuto nodded, fervently agreeing, “Hinata, if I were you, I probably would’ve thrown in the towel by now! That’s like going against Ushiwaka, Kiryuu, Aran, and Kiyoomi all at once, but for middle schoolers!”

Akaashi muttered, though too quiet to be heard, “Yet you’re still one of the top five aces.”

Iwaizumi and Oikawa gaped, realizing how big their crowd actually was.

“We were like that?!” Oikawa pointed at the T.V in complete shock.

“Duh,” Iwaizumi nodded, though he was clearly as affected as his partner. “You never noticed ‘cause you were so focused on Ushiwaka.”

Kenma leaned closer to Hinata, “Shou, I knew you were stupid, but to go against that was suicide.”

Hinata stuttered, “H-Hey, it’s not like I had the option to quit after I finally got there!”

Kageyama nodded, “Yeah, but you actually got on the court after that. I think I would’ve pissed my pants.”

Hinata felt a little grateful at that, knowing completely that he had to change shorts in the bathroom before he ran down the stairs earlier.

He didn’t have to tell them about that, though.

**“It’s Kageyama Tobio. They call him the “King of the Court”. He’s an amazing setter,” one of them aggrandized.**

Kageyama gulped at the nickname, bashfully looking away from the screen. It was clear he was feeling a heavy dose of penitence for how he acted in the past.

Kenma shrugged, sighing, “Who cares if you were an asshole then? You’re not an asshole now.”

He didn’t know much of the context of Kageyama’s past as a volleyball player, and frankly, he didn’t really care. He just knew that this would probably come up a bunch, since Hinata had ranted on and on about how Kageyama seemed way too innocent to be such an actual asshole, even if he acted rude to the middle blocker himself.

Put succinctly, he didn’t want to hear about Kageyama’s regret even more than he already had to, since it was so consistently shoved into their faces.

The younger boy couldn’t help but feel a little bit relieved at that.

**“We’re playing against those guys?!” Koji stuttered, pointing frantically at them. “What’s with this ‘King’ stuff?!”**

**Hinata tried to compose himself, stuttering in his own way, “It doesn’t matter how lanky they are! I’ll shoot past them!”**

**Izumi nodded, “That’s right, Sho-chan’s jump is amazing.”**

Kageyama scoffed, “Yeah, that jump got me when I first saw it. Not that I saw it much during that match.”

Oikawa couldn’t even recall being shown on the T.V. Maybe it was because he was supposed to be their later rival or something. Then again, neither were any of the other people in the room other than Kageyama and Hinata.

And of course, he wasn’t even at Kita-Ichi anymore.

**Yet, despite the previous confidence, Hinata’s stomach seemed to balk at his attempt at encouraging his team as an inhuman hue found its way onto his face.**

**As the young boy clenched his stomach, he gulped, quietly muttering, “But first, the bathroom…”**

**Needless to say, his teammates were nothing less than mortified at the entire situation.**

“I mean...it’s still like that,” Kuroo noted. “Oy, Chibi-chan, do you still go to the bathroom before games?”

Hinata chuckled sheepishly, “When I first joined Karasuno, I had to go even before practice games, but it’s gotten a little better!”

Kuroo snickered at that.

Kageyama, on the other hand, pointed at Hinata, casually explaining, “He puked on Tanaka while we were on our way to our first practice game to Aoba Johsai.”

“Hey! They don’t need to know that!”

**As Hinata stumbled off to the bathroom, the camera cut to a water bottle being filled up by one of the fountains.**

**A voice went, “I’ve never even heard of Yukigaoka Junior High.”**

**One of their friends, who was currently squatting near the fountain, laughed, “They’re small in number, it seems. They don’t even have a libero.”**

**“They’re the height of elementary school kids.”**

**“They’re no match for us.”**

“Hey, Kageyama,” Bokuto blurted. “When you saw their height, what was your first thought?”

Kageyama hummed, thinking for a little bit, “I thought that maybe they were lost kids and wanted to know how to get up to the stands. Then I saw they were all wearing uniforms.”

Even Akaashi and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but chuckle a little bit at the statement.

**“Oy,” Hinata’s voice came.**

**As the three boys turned, they saw Hinata, hunching as he clutched his stomach, one hand opening the bathroom.**

**“Don’t underestimate us,” he tried to intimidate.**

For the first time in a while, Kenma chuckled at the sight of Hinata doing that.

Yet, at the same time, he could absolutely see him doing that today.

“Gotta say, I thought I looked cool,” Hinata admitted. “But dang, I looked like an idiot.”

Kageyama snorted, “Old news. You are an idiot, too.”

Hinata rolled his eyes, smirking, “You are probably the only person in this room who doesn’t get to say that.”

Oikawa broke out into a coughing fit at the conversation, remembering how Kageyama’s grades used to be.

Iwaizumi could only hang his head, pained that he even knew somebody as dumb as Kageyama in the past.

**“Once my stomach settles, I’ll teach you all a lesson, so be ready,” Hinata stuttered, still shaking.**

**Unfortunately for his act, his stomach and his will vacillated as he let out a light whimper of pain.**

**The members of Kitagawa Daiichi couldn’t help but snicker.**

**“I told you, elementary kids.”**

**“Wait, is he wearing a captain’s label?”**

“Jeez, a lot of them were dicks, now that I think about it,” Oikawa sighed. “Maybe I just never noticed, but that was just straight up rude.”

Meanwhile, Akaashi leaned a little over to Hinata, “Have you thought about taking stomach medicine before a game?”

Hinata shrugged, “I tried it out. I puked up the medicine all three times I tried.”

Iwaizumi, Akaashi, and Kenma winced at that. They couldn’t imagine what that was like. The three of them were rational enough not to puke in the first place.

 **_Making fun of me…_ ** **Hinata scoffed mentally, gritting his teeth.**

**“Oy, second-year,” Kageyama’s voice cut through like a swift blade. In an instant, the same robe that Hinata could’ve sworn he saw earlier came into view, complete with the crown on the King’s head.**

“Jeez, now that’s a way to make an entrance,” Bokuto mumbled, putting his head on his hand. “Why can’t people think of me like that?”

“Maybe cause you suck,” Kuroo smirked.

“Hey!”

Oikawa mulled over whether or not he should explain the meaning of the nickname, but he left it up to the television in front, hoping that it’d do the work for him.

**“It’s time for the official warm-up,” Kageyama informed coolly, hair somewhat casting a shadow over his eyes. “Hurry it up.”**

**“S-Sorry!” One of the boys who were just laughing at Hinata apologized in a flash, before whispering to his friends. “Bad news, it’s Kageyama-senpai.”**

**Kageyama shot Hinata a glance, before turning around.**

“Man, you were an asshole after I left,” Oikawa noted. “Did I really make you that amazing of a person?” He fluttered his eyelashes proudly and innocently, so innocently that Iwaizumi couldn’t help but smack him on the back of the head for a second time.

“Take a shot every time Oikawa gets smacked on the back of the head,” Kuroo snorted, prompting Bokuto to gasp.

“We have orange juice! I’ll take a huge gulp of that!”

“You know what, I’ll join you,” Kuroo agreed, grabbing a cup real quick. “Oy, Chibi-chan, pause it real quick.”

As Hinata pressed the pause button, he turned to Kenma, “So you were a first-year during this time, right?”

Kenma nodded, “Yeah, it was pretty dull. I was bossed around a bunch because I hated seeming rude, but Kuroo helped me out with that, since he offered to do it most of the time.”

Hinata hummed, “Ah...so why do you still not talk so much to him? Aren’t you two best friends?”

“He asked me to give him my apple juice at lunch any time it happened.”

“Ah.”

Akaashi leaned over to Iwaizumi during this time, asking, “How do you deal with him?”

In response, the ace snorted, “I should be asking you that. I only have to deal with one person. Couldn’t imagine what dealing with two people somewhat like that’s like.”

Meanwhile, Kageyama and Oikawa had an intense staring match, daring the other to say something.

Silence struck as clinks were heard.

“Cheers!” Bokuto and Kuroo simultaneously smirked, taking a large gulp of orange juice from their cups.

**“Hurry, get two more energy drinks!” One boy urged.**

**Another one snorted, “As if we’ll need it. Look at our opponent.”**

**Kageyama stopped in his tracks.**

**“What’d you say?” Hinata started, but was quickly interrupted.**

**“You three,” he addressed without even looking back at them.**

**“You’re not even on the bench,” he pointed out. “What makes you think you’re good enough to look down on your opponent?”**

**The three boys froze, gulping quietly.**

**As Kageyama turned around, a sharp glare in his eyes, he succinctly advised, “Don’t ride the coattails of your school’s reputation,” the tone of a warning lying deep within his words.**

Kageyama smirked, “Admit it. You think I’m cool.” As he glanced around the room, he saw impressed looks and respect for himself being earned through this supposed show.

Kenma shrugged, “I probably would’ve if you didn’t say that just now.”

As Kageyama sulked, Hinata couldn’t help but snicker.

Oikawa rolled his eyes, simpering, “Jeez, so you were already supporting him before you two were even on the same team. How sweet.”

 **_Scary,_ ** **Hinata noted, before realizing the position he was now in.**

**“I-I was going to tell them a thing or two myself, you know,” he tried to defend while putting up a front.**

**“You’re not even physically ready. Don’t talk big. That’s why they look down on you,” Kageyama smoothly transitioned.**

Oikawa couldn’t help but be reminded of Ushijima through how Kageyama was talking. He didn’t even sound like he was trying to be insulting, but the fact that it was so blunt hurt in its own right.

**“W-What did you say?” Hinata stuttered, though he didn’t get any sort of response to that.**

**Instead, Kageyama steamrolled over his statement, “What are you even here for, anyways? Making memories?”**

**Hinata grit his teeth, “I’m here to win. Nothing else.”**

**Kageyama sauntered over to the shorter boy, “You make it sound so easy.”**

**“I’m not tall..” Hinata began.**

“Should’ve cut it off right there, Chibi-chan,” Kuroo clicked his tongue. “You’re absolutely right about that.”

**“But I can jump!”**

Akaashi wondered to himself, _How do you get shut up by a television version of somebody that took place last year?_

**“You can’t assume we’ll lose, as long as we don’t give up --” Hinata continued, before Kageyama turned around, tired of hearing those words.**

**“‘Don’t give up.’ That’s not as easy as it sounds,” he scoffed.**

**“The six of us…”’ Hinata choked out, trying not to let his emotions completely get the better of him, “The six of us can finally play on a volleyball court together!”**

**“The first game, the second game…” Hinata looked up, the previous nervousness and anxiety completely faded away to reveal a completely determined face. “We’ll win and keep winning. We’re going to give it our all!”**

**Kageyama, for the first time in his life, took his hands out of his pockets.**

**“The first game, the second game,” Kageyama repeated, turning back to Hinata. “The playoffs, the nationals…I’m going to win them all.”**

**The two locked eyes, before Kageyama broke the intensity by turning back to walk towards the gym.**

Kenma couldn’t help but realize, _huh...that’s a nice difference there. pretty antithetical. guess even a show revolving around us in some sort of weird meta’s gotta have some themes to it. the “we’re” vs. the “i’m.” nice touch._

“You know,” Oikawa elucidated. “You guys poured way too much into that conversation.”

A smack was heard.

“Another shot!” Bokuto and Kuroo cheered.

Orange juice shot counter; 2

**As Kageyama continued walking, the camera passed by Izumi, who quickly sprinted towards Hinata once the taller boy had passed.**

**“Sho-chan!” He called out worriedly.**

**“Izumi,” Hinata addressed, oddly calm.**

**“Why are you making that scary guy mad?!” He fretted. He came to a stop, body unstable as he regained his balance. “Weren’t you going to go to the bathroom?”**

**Without responding, Hinata quickly sped up, “C’mon, let’s get back. Hurry.”**

**Izumi gulped, still asking, “How’s your stomach ache?”**

**“It’s all gone.”**

Akaashi couldn’t help but be impressed at how caring his friends were. He wondered what it would be like if he were in the same situation as Hinata.

**After a minute or two, once both teams could properly start warming up, Hinata witnessed Kageyama setting a toss to one of his teammates.**

**_Crap, he’s good for real,_ ** **Hinata observed. Meanwhile, his teammates were struggling to maintain their composure.**

**As Koji’s arms got a little hurt as he received the ball, Izumi mumbled, “He’s a setter.”**

**“That’s him, the ‘King of the Court.’ Kageyama Tobio, I think,” Koji grunted, waving his arms lightly to help remedy the pain. “By the way, what’s a setter?”**

**A cute little animatic popped up to help demonstrate what a setter was as Izumi explained, “It’s the offensive position that tosses the ball for the spiker to hit. We studied it, remember?”**

**Koji shrugged.**

Hinata chuckled sheepishly, “Maybe I should’ve explained it to them a few more times, especially with how bad my explanations are.”

Most of the room nodded in agreement.

**As Kageyama threw another toss, his teammate was barely able to hit it.**

**“Your timing is too slow!” He lectured. “I told you to come in faster for the quick!”**

**“My bad,” his teammate muttered, internally yenning for his teammate to (at least in his head, he thought) shut the fuck up.**

Oikawa watched observantly. He heard all about how his underclassman had become ever since he graduated middle school, yet seeing it was a whole new story.

This, of course, was all foreign to most of the people in the room other than Kenma, Hinata, and the two from Aoba Johsai.

Kenma only knew it from that one time Kageyama stared at him creepily while mumbling things in a manner that made him look suspiciously like a serial killer.

**The coach walked up to the setter, advising, “Kageyama, don’t focus on speed alone. What matters is not your own skills, but how easily the spiker can hit it.”**

_Wise words,_ Akaashi agreed, nodding in approbation. It seemed that the message had gotten through to every setter except Kageyama at this point in time.

However, they couldn’t help but wonder how the boy who seemed so awkward and unable to communicate was like this in middle school. Weren’t people supposed to get more aggressive in high school?

**Kageyama spun on the ball of his foot, scoffing, “I know that.”**

**It was pretty clear he was ambivalent, intransigence showing by the way he spun around in an apoplectic manner.**

**As the warmups finished, the two teams lined up. It began with the lineup of Kitagawa Daiichi, before panning over to Yukigaoka, accentuating the difference in height through panning downwards to show part of their torso.**

**_This is it,_ ** **Hinata thought excitedly, nervousness pounding at him.** **_It’s finally about to start._ **

An austere look made its way onto Hinata’s face, stomach dropping at how vividly he remembered the score.

**Hinata’s face on-screen was a clear contrast to the one watching the T.V, as he excitedly bowed as the teams went, “Let’s play!”**

**Once the starting lineup became situated, the players’ numbers were being recorded.**

**One of Kageyama’s teammates observed, “Our opponents sure are short.”**

Akaashi yawned a little bit, _Maybe I should count how many times they mention being short?_

Luckily for him, he didn’t have to wonder, as Hinata suggested, “Kenma! For every time we hear something about being short, take a bite of an apple?”

Kenma cringed at the thought of it, his already meager appetite shrinking even more, “And why would I do that?”

Hinata brightly chirped, “Because you need to eat! Kuroo told me you only ate a banana yesterday!”

Kenma sighed, “Fine…” He picked up an apple and took a tiny bite of it. “Happy now?”

“Good enough!”

**Hinata hissed quietly, trying to be discreet, “Koji, your back number. Show them your back number.” Lo and behold, his friend was standing nonchalantly with a hand on his hip.**

**A few seconds later, the referee blew his whistle, signalling the beginning of the game.**

Kageyama scratched his head, groaning to himself, “Dang it, why can’t I remember how that game ended?”

Hinata lightly chuckled, “I mean, against our team, it was probably just another win for you guys, wasn’t it?” Even Hinata knew how unlikely it was for them to win, in addition to how obvious the gap was between the two teams. He’d come to terms with the fact that his team lost a long time ago, though the promise of beating Kageyama still burned.

Kageyama nodded, accepting the answer, “True. But your jump did surprise me.”

**As Kunimi served, Koji stumbled in his attempt to get the ball.**

**“My bad,” he muttered, looking at Hinata.**

**“It’s all good,” he assured cheerfully as he clapped his hands to get the team to refocus.**

**“Nice serve,” the members of Kitagawa Daiichi chanted together as Kunimi sent the ball over the net again, this time between two teammates, clearing between them in their moment of indecision.**

Bokuto whistled quietly. _So this is why he’s so determined._

Oikawa felt it too. _That taste of defeat...that oh-so tantalizing piece of victory. He won’t let that loss beat him down anymore._

Even Kuroo could feel it in his expression. Even though Hinata seemed cheerful on the screen, he could simply feel the work he’d put in. _Hmm...didn’t think this would be why Chibi-chan’s got so much invested now._

**As one scorekeeper flipped the score for Kitagawa Daiichi’s second point, his companion muttered, “Oh man, they probably won’t even score a point.”**

**The one who changed the score shrugged, “Fine by me. It’ll be over quicker.”**

**His friend snickered, “That’s a fact.”**

“Hey!” Hinata barked. “At least we did something!”

**He completely expected Yukigaoka to be downcast, yet glancing at them, he was quickly taken aback.**

“See!”

**Of course, Hinata was talking to his team with a bright smile on his face, “Don’t worry, don’t worry. We’ll get it back real quick!”**

**Koji hummed, a bit of doubt in his tone, “Um...yeah…”**

“Well, at least you’re optimistic,” Akaashi observed, somewhat impressed. “Or naive. One of those two.”

“Probably naive,” Kuroo snickered.

Surprisingly enough, Oikawa was the one who defended him, “Hey, at least he was determined.”

Iwaizumi opened his mouth, along with Kageyama to argue with him, only to realize that if anyone, he was probably the one most qualified to talk about working hard and not giving up.

That, of course, didn’t sit well with the two people sitting with Iwaizumi and Oikawa, both itching for another shot of orange juice.

**Yet, despite the previous joyful and encouraging voice that Hinata wore, only a few seconds later, he turned around with a determined look on his face.**

**_We finally got here,_ ** **Hinata steeled himself, taking a deep breath.** **_We won’t let it end here._ **

**A quick flash of white came, the screen taking on a flashback-reminiscent hue.**

Hinata tilted his head, gasping quietly, “Wait, I remember that! That was when I was a first-year!”

**_“Huh?” An even younger Hinata’s voice came through, showing an innocent face with hope slowly falling. “I’m the only club member?”_ **

Now, of course, none of them held any feelings for the ginger (though Kuroo suspected the two setters sitting directly on each side of Hinata might go against that claim). However...

None of them could really deny that he looked pretty dang cute there, like a puppy that they’d want to protect.

**_“Yep,” the advisor nodded. “The club members just sort of dwindled down to nothingness. Besides, boys’ volleyball isn’t a club activity. It’s a fan club here.”_ **

Many sounds of ‘ohs’ came through from the room, realizing how Hinata could easily misunderstand what they meant through different clubs they had. Some of them would probably fall for it too.

**_“Oh…” Hinata mumbled, slightly disheartened._ **

**_As the admittedly chubby advisor sat down, he turned his head to the student, “So, what are you going to do? Are you going to change to another club?”_ **

**_He fumbled his hands through some documents, “Or maybe join the girls’ club?”_ **

**_Hinata blushed heavily, “W-Well, n-no…”_ **

Oikawa couldn’t hold back a chuckle at that, “Not gonna lie, I probably would’ve said something like that.”

“Of course you would, Shittykawa.”

_Smack!_

“Woo-hoo!”

Orange juice shot counter: 3

**_“I-I’ll be a one-man team then!” Hinata declared._ **

At that, Hinata nearly choked on the bottle of water he was drinking.

“Oy, dumbass, what was that for?!” Kageyama hissed. “Stop coughing! You’re gonna get something on me!”

As Kenma slapped Hinata’s back hard -- Hinata couldn’t help but wonder where that strength was during games -- he got his bearings back.

“Nah, nah, I’m fine,” he waved. “At least I didn’t say that I’d rather receive, toss, and spike all by myself when I had the option to work with a teammate.” He smirked innocently, knowing exactly what would happen next.

“Hey! Shut up, dumbass!” 

**_“Is that right?” The advisor kept going, not even paying attention to Hinata at the moment._ **

**_Hinata put a hand to his chest, determined, “I’m going to be the Little Giant.”_ **

**_“You’re going to be the what?”_ **

“Man, I guess I really was too into it back then,” Hinata smiled sheepishly, blushing a little bit.

“You still are, Shou,” Kenma noted, still staring at the T.V. He wondered subconsciously when he was going to pop up.

“Wait, does that count of you needing to take a bite because of the Little Giant?” Hinata wondered out loud, prompting Kenma to quickly shake his head.

**Another flash.**

**A volleyball flew, the first-year stepping out of the way to watch it hit the court.**

**Of course, it was in.**

There were a few choruses of mumbling, silently willing the kid to improve and make a sudden comeback despite how well they knew the result was coming by now.

**3-0.**

**Another cut, back to the past.**

**_A volleyball flew in the same fashion as the present’s serve._ **

**_“Nice serve,” one of the girls called out as another one received the ball cleanly._ **

**_Hinata, of course, stood in the background, unable to properly practice with them._ **

**_He continued his business, tossing the ball at the wall in an attempt to properly set to himself._ **

**_The first time, he poorly timed his jump, barely grazing the ball with his fingertips._ **

**_Another time, he tossed it._ **

**_“Right...here…” he grunted, jumping up to hit it, smacking it down with force._ **

**_Staring at his hand, parts of which were red from the impact, he felt an unusual amount of satisfaction from the sound the ball made._ **

**_He heard the coach call out, “Gather ‘round. We’re going to go for a run.”_ **

**_Hinata smiled, internally cheering, “My chance!”_ **

“Okay, I know you probably wouldn’t do this, but I thought you were going to go run with the girls,” Kuroo chuckled.

“Yeah. Me too,” Bokuto agreed.

**_“Izumi!” Hinata called out, running across the court to speak to his friend, who was currently sitting down and talking to another person on the basketball team._ **

**_“You’re taking a break, right? Can you toss to me?!” He chirped, a bright shine in his eyes._ **

**_“Uh...what do you mean?” Izumi tilted his head._ **

**_“I wanna spike the ball!” Hinata explained, gesturing to the volleyball net._ **

**_“I can’t,” Izumi gulped, not knowing how to properly refuse. “I don’t know how.”_ **

**_Hinata bent down a little bit and moved the ball up a little, “You just toss it. That’s all you gotta do.”_ **

**_“I can’t!” Izumi quietly whispered. “Senpai’s watching.”_ **

**_As if on cue, the coach called out, “Gather up.”_ **

**_The players quickly rose and sprinted over, leaving over a disappointed Hinata._ **

“Do you remember when this was?” Akaashi leaned over to ask.

“I think this was in our first year,” Hinata asked. “I only asked him to do it in my second year when he wasn’t in practice, so it must’ve been then.”

Akaashi couldn’t even imagine having enough passion for something to keep going for three years of failure.

**A cut back to the present, where a player on Yukigaoka received the ball, only to hit the net before Izumi can set it, falling to the ground.**

**5-0.**

**Hinata’s instantly reminded of another moment, cutting to the past.**

“Jeez, how many times are they gonna show me in my first year?” Hinata pouted. He didn’t really have anything against it...it just felt embarrassing to see himself like that. It was like seeing embarrassing photos of yourself for minutes at a time.

**_“Hey, Hinata,” one of his classmates in Class 2-C called out to him, walking up to his desk. “Heard you’re on the girls’ volleyball team.”_ **

**_Hinata coughed, barely able to stop himself from spitting the juice out as another one of his classmates snorted, “Are you serious?”_ **

**_“N-No, I’m not!” Hinata denied, a light pink dusting his cheeks._ **

**_Instead, he was steamrolled by another question, “Who are you after? There is a foxy third-year, after all.”_ **

**_Hinata only blushed heavier._ **

“Honestly, I don’t think Hinata’s ever been interested in anything other than volleyball the last four years,” Kageyama sighed, scratching the back of his head. “Let alone be attracted to someone for a relationship.”

Hinata tilted his head, “What did he mean when he said a ‘foxy’ third-year?”

Kuroo snorted. Yeah, there was no way Hinata was going to even get any hints from anyone advancing on him, even if he had his attention distracted from volleyball for long enough to hear one.

**_“I’m in the boy’s volleyball team!”_ **

**Just as he said that, a cut back to the present revealed Kindaichi spiking the ball past two of Yukigaoka’s blockers.**

**Yet another point.**

**And yet another chant from Kitagawa Daiichi.**

**Hinata remembered the words Koji said to him in his first year, “** **_You can’t even join a tournament. Why practice?”_ **

**Of course, his response stayed true to his belief, “** **_I’ll enter a tournament. Eventually. I’ll gather up a team...even though I’m striking out right now.”_ **

Akaashi nudged Kageyama, “Hey, 5-0? Did your team just make no mistake?”

Kageyama shrugged, “I mean…” he glanced at Hinata, gauging his mood. “It wasn’t like we had anything to worry about, so we just played like we were doing drills.”

Oddly enough, at least to Kageyama, Hinata nodded, “Yeah, I don’t even think they noticed we were there.”

**_“How about you, Koji?”_ **

**_“Eh? How many times do I gotta turn you down?”_ **

There were a few looks among the room that were taken aback at his attitude, but at the same time, a few of them had been on the receiving end of endless requests to do something with Hinata regarding volleyball.

**As the score hit 7-0, it cut completely back to the past.**

**_As Hinata kept hitting the ball downwards towards the wall, Izumi walked by, sending a concerned look towards his friend._ **

**_At seeing the basketball player, Hinata smiled brightly, “Hey, Izumi! Can you spare a minute!” Izumi tensed up._ **

**_He quickened up his pace, averting his gaze, “I-I have after-school class today. Sorry.”_ **

Hinata hummed, “Honestly, I shoulda noticed something. We didn’t even have after-school class at Yukigaoka!”

There were a few nods of agreement in his couchmates, though Bokuto and Kuroo snickered at the realization.

**The score hit 9-0. As the ref blew his whistle, he raised his hand to gesture a time out.**

**“Sorry, Sho-chan,” Izumi apologized, as KItagawa Daiichi cheered amongst themselves, repeating, “Lucky, lucky!”**

“Wait, Hinata, did you guys get a point against them?” Kenma asked, tugging on the shorter boy’s sleeve.

Hinata nodded, “Yeah, but it took a while. Eventually, they made a mistake which let us start serving a bit and scoring points, but we couldn’t really stop anything they did. We just hoped they would make mistakes.”

That was somewhat a terror to imagine. That you, in a volleyball game, had only the slim chance of getting points through the other team’s mistakes. To be helpless and at the mercy of their almost-human mistakes.

**_As Hinata continuously set to himself alone, a yell came from somewhere near him, “Watch out!”_ **

**_Hinata was only able to turn his head before being met with the kind force of a soccer ball smashing directly into his face, knocking him to the floor._ **

**_“Shoyo, are you all right?” Koji asked, running up to him._ **

**_“Ouch…” Hinata hissed._ **

**_“My bad,” Koji unenthusiastically apologized, scratching the back of his head._ **

“Jeez, this guy’s kind of a prick,” Oikawa muttered.

 _And if it’s coming from Oikawa, then he must be worse than even we think,_ Kuroo and Iwaizumi mused.

**_In an instant, Hinata sat up, the pain seeming to not have registered, “Toss to me, then!”_ **

**_The only sign that he’d gotten his was the bright red mark from the ball indicating its contact with his face._ **

**_He broke out into a smile._ **

“Hinata, do you just not render anything in your mind if it isn’t volleyball?”

“Uhh...kind of?” Hinata answered, his statement sounding like a question.

**Another serve went up.**

**“I got it this time,” Koji quietly muttered to himself, before getting hit in the face with the ball before he even realized it.**

“Reminds me of you, Chibi-Chan,” Kuroo snickered.

Kageyama, as if on instinct, nodded his agreement.

“Hey! Bakageyama, you’re supposed to be my teammate! What happened to supporting me?”

Kageyama squeezed Hinata’s head with practice ease, barking, “That’s for volleyball only, dumbass.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, somewhat amused, “Sure it is.”

**As the ball flew up from the receive, it flew towards Izumi.**

**Both Hinata’s past and present voice called out.**

**“Izumi!”**

**_“Izumin!”_ **

**Another flash.**

**_As Izumi caught the ball, his arms red from impact, he asked, “Hey, haven’t you had enough? My arms kinda hurt, and I can’t receive the ball accurately.”_ **

**_Hinata put his hands together in a pleading motion, “Please, just one more! I got first-year students to join me!”_ **

**_Izumi retorted, no heat behind his voice, “You keep saying ‘one more.’ This is the last one, okay?”_ **

**_Hinata nodded, smiling, “Got it!”_ **

**_Izumi tossed the ball up lightly, only for it to come down towards his arms at a poor angle, sending the ball flying off to the side._ **

**_“Oh, sorry.”_ **

**_Of course, Hinata still got there, jumping as high as ever, ready to spike the ball._ **

“Reminds me of the first time you spiked one of my sets,” Kageyama absentmindedly mumbled.

“Oh, so you do remember!” Hinata smirked.

Kenma sighed, “I don’t even remember the first time I set the ball to Kuroo. He just pestered me for volleyball because there was nothing else he was interested in. If only he could just be interested in my games for once.” There was a grumble in his tone.

“Kenma, don’t you dare --” Kuroo tried to interrupt, before Hinata chirped.

“Wait, what do you mean? Did you two not meet through volleyball?”

“No, it was through our parents,” Kenma explained. “Wait, did you guys know pre-middle school Kuroo?”

They all shook his head, except for Kuroo who got up and quickly put a hand over Kenma’s mouth.

“Nothing to see here folks!” He smiled, too good to be true, before setting Kenma down with a friendly glare.

Though, the moment he sat down, Kenma continued, “Kuroo was, like, the shyest person I knew. It took him like two weeks to talk to me.” When he saw Kuroo get up from his seat to walk over to him, his words jumbled together to explain, “HewasatleasttwentytimesshyerthanIeverwasandeverwillbe.”

“Hey! They don’t need to know that!”

“Andifonlyhedidn’taskmeaboutvolleyballbecausehedidn’tshutupafterwards.”

Everyone in the room started chuckling at the explanation, especially at the comically mortified expression Kuroo had on his face.

“Betrayal!” He called out, pointing frantically at Kenma.

“Hey, you’re the one who always gets away with being a nerd,” Kenma smoothly explains, a smirk on his face.

“Kuroo! Why didn’t you tell me this?!” Bokuto howled, shaking in laughter. Even Oikawa and Iwaizumi couldn’t help but be amused, especially from what they saw of the Rooster-Head from today.

“Cause I didn’t think Kenma’d be a snitch,” Kuroo mumbled, sulking back over to his seat.

Hinata tilted his head, “But Kuroo seems so outgoing!”

Kenma sighed, “Yeah, that’s unfortunately because of me.”

Akaashi nodded solemnly, “If only you didn’t talk to him about volleyball.”

Kenma clicked his tongue, “It’s a decision I’ve come to regret every day of my life.” He could only take pride in the playfully offended remarks coming from Kuroo.

None of them really knew how the conversation got to that point, but they weren’t going to ask any more questions. Besides, they knew all they had to know, and they were going to use that knowledge very, very wisely.

**“Go, Sho-chan!” izumi encouraged, tossing the ball to Hinata.**

**Hinata thought, excited,** **_This is my chance. I may be small, but I can jump…_ **

“Hah! Another bite, Kenma!”

“You’re lucky I like apples, Shouyou,” Kenma mumbled, picking up the apple.

K.A.B count (Kenma Apple Bites) : 2!

**Hinata hopped up, ready to spike the ball, taking the same form he did in the flashback.**

**Kageyama looked shocked at his hop, eyes widening a bit.**

“And that’s when I realized that this kid was a dumbass for going to Yukigaoka,” Kageyama grumbled.

**Kageyama didn’t jump, and frankly, he didn’t need to.**

**Because the moment Hinata hit the ball, it was sent right back to the floor on his side by the tall wall looming right in front of him.**

**A dejected look came upon Hinata’s face, only interrupted by Izumi’s words of encouragement, “Don’t worry, Sho-chan! We’ll toss it to you again!” Koji nodded, showing his support.**

**“S-Sorry,” Hinata apologized.** **_And that was a good toss too,_ ** **he lamented.**

**He turned around, looking at Kitagawa Daiichi with a determined look on his face, “I’ll get it next time.”**

**He met Kageyama’s look of curiosity with fierceness, before cutting to a commercial break.**

“Oh, cool, we can take a moment to recover or something,” Bokuto nodded affirmatively, looking to Akaashi for approval. Luckily, his setter nodded, his face impassive as always.

Oikawa stretched, “So, what was all that for? Obviously, it’s showing that Shrimpy over there’s the main character,” he mumbled to his couchmates, while Kageyama, Kenma, and Hinata were chatting up a storm.

Well, mainly Kageyama and Hinata, while Kenma was putting in quiet remarks every now and then. Akaashi walked up to Iwaizumi to talk if they could switch, which the ace gladly did. While he enjoyed the convenience of being able to smack Oikawa, being near the two others didn’t seem enjoyable in the slightest.

“I think it’s probably just something for exposition or something,” Akaashi hypothesized as he took Kuroo’s seat on the couch. “If this guy made this a show with a bunch of episodes, maybe we should think of it as a show as well, you know?”

Bokuto hummed, “Ooh, that makes sense! So we get to know what happens overall because of all these tiny details from the first episode!”

Oikawa gagged at that, “So does that mean that Kageyama’s like his deuteragonist or something?”

“Deuter-what now?” Bokuto scrunched his face up.

“Basically two main characters,” Akaashi explained.

_Smack!_

“Iwa-chan, what was that for?!” Oikawa whined, rubbing the back of his head in pain.

“Let’s go!” Kuroo and Bokuto shouted together, the former getting back from the bathroom, instantly picking up his cup.

Orange juice shot count: 4!

“Oh, wait, the commercial break’s over!” Hinata realized, rewinding the episode a few seconds.

The room was still chatting amongst themselves, though quieter now as they watched.

**As Hinata jumped up to stop Kageyama, the younger boy set the ball to Kindaichi, who spiked down once more with power over the two first-years.**

**The scorekeepers talked to each other as one of them changed the score, “Wow, that number 5 is a powerhouse.”**

**His friend replied, “Well, Yukigaoka’s finally sneaking in a few points, in the second set.”**

**The first scorekeeper scoffed, “Thanks to their enemies’ misses.”**

**“Sho-chan!” Izumi’s voice called out, taking their attention back to the game.**

**As Hinata and the blockers jumped out, the short boy cringed,** **_This is bad. I’ve got nowhere to hit it._ **

**As he smacked the ball in a useless effort, it got sent back down in a flash.**

**The scorekeeper changing Yukigaoka’s score whistled, “Dang, all their plays are being seen through.”**

**The other scorekeeper pushed up his glasses, “Shame. That kid’s got a huge jump.”**

“Kenma, that’s indirectly related to my height because it’s implied!” Hinata urged him to take another bite, handing him the apple.

The setter shook his head, setting it back on the table, “Nope. Nothing directly about your height was mentioned.”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, though he couldn't hide his amusement.

**As Kageyama set from what seemed to be an impossible angle, Kindaichi sent it over, almost too far, though staying in.**

**“Close call,” he sighed, a grateful look on his face. Kageyama, however, couldn’t take it.**

**“Faster,” he lectured, gritting his teeth.**

**Kunimi complimented as the setter walked away, “Nice.”**

**As the ace stayed with his hands on his knees, he muttered, “Reckless tosses today, as usual.”**

**Kunimi nodded, “I know. The opponents today can’t even block. What’s the point?”**

“Oh, Kindaichi!” Oikawa realized, clicking his tongue. “I wondered why he looked so familiar!”

“Obviously, Shittykawa.”

Without another word, the two-third years next to Oikawa smirked at each other.

_Clink!_

Orange juice shot counter: 5!

Kenma wondered how long it would be before they got sick of the taste of orange juice.

**Kunimi’s words reached Kageyama’s ears, “What’s he so serious about?”**

**In a flash of anger, the apoplectic setter whirled, “Then when will you guys get serious?!”**

**One of their teammates came between them, “Stop it. We’re in a game.”**

**Yukigaoka’s scorekeeper winced, “Scary. Their setter’s good, but it’s like he’s playing by himself.”**

**As Kunimi served, one of the first-years poorly received the ball, sending it flying backwards.**

**“Another service ace,” Kunimi smoothly observed, jogging up to the front.**

**“Not yet,” Kageyama hissed.**

**Kunimi shrugged as Hinata sprinted after the ball, “He won’t get that.”**

**Hinata’s eyes, still on the ball, followed its downward arc as he dived,** **_The ball hasn’t fallen yet. Not yet._ **

**Yet, as he watched the ball hit the floor, his face did too, as the force of his running sent him rolling to the wall in a series of pained grunts.**

**“Sho-chan!” Izumi called out in distress, running up to his friend.**

“Jeez, Hinata, don’t you ever think of slowing down so you don’t roll as hard?” Iwaizumi asked, a little concerned.

“Uh...no?” Hinata tilted his head, not getting the question. “Why would I purposely slow myself down if it only makes it so that I might not get the ball?”

“Of course you’d say something like that,” Kenma deadpanned, earning a nod from half of the people of the room.

Of course, the half that understood Hinata’s words were exactly who one would expect: Hinata (obviously), Kageyama, Oikawa, and Bokuto, who were just as volleyball-obsessed as him.

**“Wow, looks painful,” Kindaichi observed.**

**Kunimi, with his usual shit-eating grin, nodded, “Well, at least he’s trying hard.”**

**Kageyama could only stare in shock at Hinata’s determination.**

**As the scorekeeper for Kitagawa Daiichi flipped the score, he sighed, “One more point for Kita-Ichi and it’s game over for Yukigaoka.”**

**The other scorekeeper nodded, “Yep.”**

**“Damn it…” Hinata hissed, pushing himself back up through sheer will.**

**One of the first years hesitantly went, “U-Um, excuse me...I-I’m…” he glanced away, a little bit of shame in his voice. “We don’t want to get injured. They’re way out of our league to begin with...so why do you push so hard?”**

“Isn’t it obvious?” Oikawa scoffed.

Iwaizumi was about to smack him in the back of the head, before Bokuto piped up, “Yeah, it’s pretty clear to me.”

Hinata sniffed, “Yeah, that was probably one of the most...rebunkund --”

“Redundant,” Kenma corrected.

“Yeah, that...that was one of the most redundant questions I’d ever heard,” Hinata shrugged, agreeing with the two third-years.

“Okay, am I missing something?” Kuroo asked. “Do you guys just have this weird psychic connection?”

Kageyama huffed, “No. It’s just…”

“I don’t really know what you mean,” Bokuto clicked his tongue.

The four might as well have piped up with the T.V at the same time.

**“Huh?” Hinata hummed before he got up. “I don’t know what you mean, but…”**

The voices of the four volleyball-obsessed teens might as well have melded with the T.V Hinata as they all answered in a similar fashion:

“Why stop when...

**“We haven’t lost yet?”**

Kuroo shuddered, “Jeez, y’all are creepy.”

Iwaizumi couldn’t even bring himself to smack Oikawa on the head because of the sheer shock he felt.

Akaashi simply rolled his eyes; he’d experienced something like that too many times with Kuroo and Bokuto.

Kenma tugged on Hinata’s sleeve again, “Sure, but you don’t need to roll like you’re Sonic the Hedgehog because of it.”

“Shush, you,” Hinata playfully stuck his tongue out at the setter.

**His words clearly hit Kageyama hard, as he made a facial expression akin to that of a disgruntled chipmunk.**

“Tobio-chan, what the _fuck?!”_ Oikawa howled in laughter, as Hinata guffawed at the setter’s expression.

Kuroo smirked, “Jeez, didn’t think Groundhog day was upon us just yet.”

“Stop acting American,” Kenma rolled his eyes, disinterested with Kuroo.

 **Kageyama, having returned to his spot on the court, thought to himself,** **_That’s right. It’s simple. No matter how challenging the rally, there’s only one reason we chase the ball._ **

**As Hinata received the ball, it wasn’t a clean receive as it was sent a bit to the side.**

**“Koji!” he called out. He whispered quietly to himself, “The ball hasn’t fallen on the court yet.”**

**“Sho-Chan!” Izumi called out once the ball flew up again, courtesy of Koji utilizing his soccer skills to kick the ball back in the air while sliding to save it.**

**Kageyama steeled himself,** **_There’s only one reason why we keep fighting._ **

**As Hinata jumped up, Kindaichi and Kageyama jumped up to block it, their thoughts were the same:**

**_Because we haven’t lost yet!_ **

**Hinata smashed the ball with all his might, sending it careening off of Kindaichi’s hand.**

**“One touch!” Kindaichi called out, Kageyama following up with: “You touched it!”**

**“Cover it!” One of their teammates called out, prompting Kunimi to casually jog towards the ball, not even a fourth of the passion that Hinata had.**

**_Yeah, I can’t do this,_ ** **Kunimi mused to himself with an impassive face as he watched the ball fall onto the ground.**

Hinata pouted at his attitude, _Reminds me of Stinkyshima._

**“Oy, don’t give up on the ball!” Kageyama lectured as the scorekeepers changed the score, a dark expression on his face.**

**Kunimi was a little shocked before turning his head away before mumbling, “My bad.”**

**Kageyama, however, didn’t take it, “We haven’t won yet, so don’t let your guard down.”**

Oikawa cringed, “Isn’t that...obvious?”

Iwaizumi, taking a note from Kageyama’s book, squeezed the setter’s head, “Stop before you and the other three start having that weird psychic connection thing.”

“Dang it! I was hoping he was going to just smack his head!”

**Kunimi sighed, still disinterested, “I know, but look at the score. Unless a miracle happens…”**

**Kageyama hung his head, completely fed up, “That last point wasn’t a miracle.”**

**He lifted his head, fire in his eyes as he raised his arm towards Hinata, “He scored a genuine point. That guy scored a genuine point!”**

**Kunimi, bored as all hell, nodded absentmindedly, “Well, yeah, but…”**

**Kageyama grit his teeth, remembering Hinata’s words from earlier,** **_“As long as we don’t give up…”_ **

**As Izumi did an underhand serve, it bounced softly off the net onto Kita-Ichi’s side, causing Kindaichi to dive to shoot it back upwards.**

**Going back over the net, one of the first-years received it, sending it towards Izumi.**

**“All right, Sho-chan, we’re counting on you,” he called out, raising his hands up to the ball.**

**Yet, as he hit the ball, his fingers hit at the wrong angle, sending the ball in the opposite direction where Hinata was.**

“Uh...Kageyama?” Kenma raised his eyebrow. “Why do you look like an actual naked mole rat right now?”

Instantly, Kageyama whirled around, “Huh?”

Hinata snickered, “You had your face all balled up like a newspaper.”

Kageyama sighed, not even angry at the remark, “I...I just remembered what happened next. That’s all. It...shocked me.”

Hinata smirked triumphantly, thinking that he actually impressed Kageyama.

Oikawa shrugged, “Well, guess the game’s over.” Even after seeing Hinata’s jump in person, that was all planned where he knew what Kageyama was going to do.

Here?

It was all just chaotic hopefulness.

 **_Toss miss?_ ** **Kageyama thought to himself, shocked.** **_There was no double hit. But there was nobody there…_ **

**Just as he thought that, a blur of orange flew by him, flying upwards at a rate nobody could’ve ever expected out of a middle schooler shorter than anything they’d ever seen before.**

Bokuto gaped, “What the shitbaggery?!”

Akaashi blinked, quietly asking nobody, “Shitbaggery?”

Bokuto wildly pointed at the T.V, “How do you jump like that?! How did you catch up with that toss?!”

Iwaizumi shrugged, “Probably just something weird he can do.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes. He had a feeling he was going to be proven wrong, but he couldn’t help but feel pessimistic. He was a realist, after all.

Bokuto whirled around to face Hinata, “You! Me! We have to practice together soon!”

Hinata’s eyes brightened considerably, “Really?! I get to practice with a Top 5 Ace?!”

Kenma shook Hinata’s shoulder, whispering urgently, “No, Shou, don’t make his head bigger than it already is.”

Kageyama grit his teeth, remembering what he had felt then. Of course, he didn’t harbor those feelings anymore. He just wondered what it would have been like if Hinata were on his team then.

**Moving faster than ever anticipated, Kageyama’s head had to follow where Hinata was going, barely able to keep up. As he pushed all he had into his legs, he growled silently in frustration.**

**_We should’ve been on the left. We had it marked,_** **he reminded himself as he leapt up with all his might.** ** _So why...is he here?_**

**He reached his arm out in a futile attempt to catch up with the ginger, failing to get in the way as Hinata sent it flying across the court, too quick for most to realize and far quicker than Kunimi, who hit the ground in an attempt to dive after it far too late.**

Kuroo smirked, satisfied with the result.

Bokuto cheered, unaware of what had happened. Akaashi, right next to him, felt impressed with Hinata’s recovery. Iwaizumi and Oikawa felt a similar way.

Hinata lowered his head a little in frustration, already knowing the result. Kenma whistled a little bit, silently wishing for Lev to be something even close to a spiker that he could set to without wishing to die on the spot.

Of course, Kageyama couldn’t hold back a constipated smile, trying to hide his emotion that he felt at the fact that he had actually found a spiker that could not only handle those sorts of tosses, but ended up on his team.

**As Hinata rolled onto the ground, crashing through the boundaries that the refs had set up, two of them jogged over to Hinata.**

**“You there, are you all right?” He asked, concerned, before Izumi’s voice was heard.**

**“Sho-Chan!” He called out, running up to his friend, who was struggling to prop himself up on his arms.**

**They heard the ref whistle. Hinata sat up even quicker, glancing at the ref with a wide mouth.**

**As he calmly raised his hands, face as impassive as ever, Hinata’s eyes darted to the court where Kunimi was.**

**Seeing the mark on the court, he quietly gasped.**

**_O-Out?_ ** **He realized.**

“Aw, that sucks!” Bokuto whined, putting his hands on his head in despair.

Kuroo scoffed, “After all that effort too.” He didn’t have as much invested as half of the others in the room, but he still respected Hinata’s drive. And to see it unrewarded stabbed at him, even if it was unjustified since he had no personal claim to it.

**As the final score change happened, Hinata walked to his team, head hung.**

**“Sho-chan, are you hurt?” Izumi tentatively asked, though he wasn’t seen. Instead, the camera focused on Kageyama, who had a frustrated look on his face.**

**_This guy…_ ** **Kageyama mentally growled.** **_He pisses me off. We only scored because their setter missed. But there was no back set...and he was still able to hit the ball. He was able to handle that toss?_ **

Oikawa shot Kuroo a furtive glance, “And that’s when he realized he went to the wrong school.”

Kuroo snorted, “Yeah, just like how Hinata chose the right school to play volleyball at.”

**“Sho-chan. We have to line up,” Izumi tried to get his attention, not sure how to comfort the downcast boy.**

**Kageyama didn’t even hear Kindaichi call out for him to line up as he instantly thought a mile a minute,** **_High level of physical ability and reflexes. Finely tuned body control. Obsessed with victory. He’s got it all._ **

Hinata snickered, “Dude, nobody that’s not a fitness trainer talks like that. What are you, a robot?”

“Shut it, dumbass!”

**Before he knew it, his legs had already walked forward, his hand grasping the net as he interrogated with an intense expression on his voice, “You. What have you been doing for the past three years?!”**

“Okay, not the best question to ask,” Oikawa chuckled.

**In an instant, he realized what was going on with Hinata. With a look into his eyes, he saw all he had to.**

**There was nothing there. Nothing but a simple void and emptiness, a far cry from the normal vibrant, unlimited energy twinkling through them.**

Kenma pinched Hinata’s cheeks, “Shou, you looked dead inside.”

“Pretty sure he was,” Iwaizumi mused, his head resting on his arm which had been sitting on the armrest.

As much as they hated to see it, they could relate to it, the familiar feeling of loss.

Of course, everyone except Kenma.

He didn’t really care about losing most of the time. Or at least, he wouldn’t admit that to anyone.

**Koji scoffed, walking forward aggressively, “What’d you say?!”**

**Izumi put all his effort into holding Koji back, “Stay out of it.”**

**“What do you know about what he did the last three years?!” Koji barked as Hinata clenched his fists, gritting his teeth.**

**_My first and last official match of junior high…_ ** **Hinata lamented.**

**As the two teams lined up, three people from the stands were seen.**

**Despite their faces not being shown, their voices were all too familiar, “King of the Court, huh…”**

Hinata gaped, “Is that Suga-Senpai?”

Oikawa cringed, “Mr. Refreshing?”

Bokuto and Kuroo could only look at him weirdly, having no idea what he was talking about.

“Well, they did say to us that they watched our game…”

**“He’s going to be a difficult opponent to face in high school,” Daichi observed.**

**“Well, my money’s on the little guy,” Tanaka confidently declared.**

**As the three walked away, satisfied with what they saw, the screen faded out to the same stairs near the beginning of the episode.**

Nobody really had a reason to speak up at the moment, all sort of encapsulated by the mood. The music, the scene, the setting sun, it was enough to capture their unwavering attention near the end of the episode.

**As Hinata, Izumi, and Koji walked to the top of the staircase, none of them said a word, the latter two unsure how to comfort their friend.**

**As the two of them glanced at each other, Koji took the initiative to brush it off, trying to ameliorate his friend’s mood, “Honestly, what’d ya expect. They’re candidates for nationals…”**

**Just as he said it, his eye was caught by the intimidating figures that was the team of Kita-Ichi talking amongst themselves, Kageyama leading the pack.**

**Koji trailed off, not knowing how to continue.**

**However, hearing Hinata speak up again made both of them slightly tense up, “It doesn’t matter if they’re strong or weak. The bottom line is about whether or not we win or lose, and if we lose, we’re off the court for good.” His expression was way too calm for someone the likes of Hinata, his tone quiet and somber.**

**He steeled himself, shoulders tensing before sprinting down the stairs, too fast for either of his friends to catch up.**

**“You…” he called out.**

**As Kageyama whirled around, hands in his pockets, his negative expression was nowhere near enough to scare off Hinata.**

Bokuto raised an eyebrow at the whole situation. He’d understood what the ginger was feeling (to a lesser degree, however) and knew how he felt in that sort of situation.

He just couldn’t understand for the life of him how the two of them seemed to be best friends nowadays, especially after something like that.

Hinata sniffed, “You know, I’m still going to keep it.”

“Yeah, like I’m ever gonna let that happen,” Kageyama smirked.

“Huh? What are y’all talkin’ about?” Kuroo asked, curious, before Iwaizumi waved him off, not wanting to interrupt their conversation.

**Hinata took a few deep breaths before pouring his heart out, eyes covered by his hair, “If you’re the King that rules the court…” he couldn’t stop the tears from flowing out of his eyes freely, trailing their way down his cheeks in frustrated bursts.**

Most of them couldn’t help but feel bad for Hinata, having lost so brutally in his very first match. Even Kageyama felt an ounce of guilt.

Of course, seeing Hinata’s determined expression told them all they needed to know.

Feeling bad for him isn’t going to change anything.

**He raised his head, determination in his eyes, “Then I’ll have to beat you, and I’ll be the last one standing!”**

**Kageyama’s dumb-faced expression hardened a little bit, eyes sharpening.**

“That’s kinda how it works, Chibi-Chan,” Kuroo snickered.

“Hey! Bakageyama might not be smart enough to understand it!” Hinata defended, a hand on his chest in earnest.

“I’m sitting right here, asshole!”

**A few moments of silence passed while Hinata wiped the tears from his face, rubbing his eyes with his arm.**

**Kageyama took his hands out of his pockets, turning slowly to face Hinata as he explains, matter-of-factly, “The last ones standing are the victors. Only the strongest.”**

**His face is serious, yet his tone seemed to hold some sort of anticipation, “If you want to stand at the top, you better get strong.”**

**The wind gently blew, softly blowing Kageyama’s hair. As he turned around, calmly walking away on a frowning Hinata.**

“Says the guy who lost later on in the tournament,” Oikawa mused, simpering once more.

“And you lost to Ushiwaka,” Iwaizumi reminded, venom lacing his tone.

“Hey! It’s a team effort! You told me that!” Oikawa whined, pouting.

Kenma whispered, quiet enough to not grab any unnecessary attention, “Did you really have to tell him that?”

Kageyama flushed, “Hey, I thought it’d encourage him!”

Hinata shrugged, “Not really...if anything, you just said I was weak for thirty seconds.” He snickered at Kageyama’s expression. “It’s true! You could’ve just told me I need to get stronger!”

 **As Koji and Izumi finally caught up, Hinata contemplated,** **_What I’m lacking…_ **

**Without a warning, Hinata turned around and bowed, “Thank you for playing with me today!”**

**Both Izumi and Koji glanced away, a light blush dusting their cheeks as Koji stuttered, “D-Dumbass. You don’t have to thank us.”**

Hinata shuddered, having heard the insult way too many times in the past week alone.

Kageyama only tilted his head, not knowing what the cause of his sudden jolt was.

**“Uh...Koji, why are you crying?”**

**“I’m not crying!” Koji denied, his voice cracking up a little bit.**

**As the screen turned to black, a fast-forward in time occurred.**

**Hinata, who’d just finished tying up his shoes, started running once again, on the same track he’d done so many times before.**

“Did you really need to up your stamina? You already have enough energy as is,” Kuroo observed.

“I-I mean, if I need to keep jumping, I need to up my endurance!” Hinata explained.

“Yeah,” Kenma clicked his tongue. “But you already bike 4 miles to and from school every day. You don’t need to do more, you know.”

“Hey! You make it sound like you don’t want me to have energy!” Hinata pouted.

“Well, if you didn’t, it’d make our games a lot easier,” Kenma shrugged.

**A flash to the gym happened, a montage showing all the things Hinata’d done for the rest of the school year. Trained with the first-years (with the help of the girls’ volleyball team), learning Kita-Ichi was defeated, and even the fact that he’d kept running even in the freezing winter.**

Oikawa cringed, “Yeah, that might’ve been too much.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, “Well, at least he didn’t injure his knee.” He grumbled. “Unlike some asshat I know.”

“Rude, Iwa-chan!”

**One last flash in the montage showed the diploma Hinata’d received from graduation, waving goodbye to his friends.**

**“See you, Sho-Chan!” Izumi called out, jumping up while Koji waved away calmly.**

**As cherry blossom leaves fell softly, a quick flash forward and a ring of a bicycle bell indicated yet another time-skip.**

“Hey! I remember that!” Hinata chirped. “That was the first day of school!”

“Hm,” Kageyama hummed. “So we must be getting close to the actual events of the story. We might be meeting some other people soon.”

The members of Aoba Johsai and Nekoma glanced amongst each other, not sure who met the crows first.

 **_30-minute bike over the mountain,_ ** **Hinata thought as he pedaled, before coming to a stop.** **_Starting today, I go to Karasuno High School._ **

“Every day?” Kuroo raised his eyebrow. "I know Kenma said it, but I thought he was exaggerating." Hinata waved it off.

“Well, I used to. Now I race Kageyama there, especially when there’s morning practice. He usually comes up to my place and we race from there.”

Kenma cringed, disgusted at the mere thought of running so much. Bokuto only gaped, in complete doubt of how someone could possibly have so much energy.

**“Wanna join the soccer club?!” A voice called out, holding a hand up to his mouth to amplify his voice.**

“Oh, so this must be the club stuff,” Kuroo mused.

**“Wanna help manage the baseball club?!” Another voice called out as Hinata sprinted through the hallway, blasting past the other students with masterful agility.**

**As he passed by a set of people, one of them held their hands out to three others, “Here, the club applicants list.” Her voice was soft and gentle.**

**“Thank you,” a firmer voice responded. “So few...we used to have so many.”**

**“It’ll grow, Daichi,” someone stepped forward to reassure.**

**Lastly, one fourth voice joined in, his hands at his sides in an oddly timid display, “K-Kiyoko-san, looking pretty today as always!”**

**Kiyoko, with practiced ease, turned around and walked away without another word.**

“Ooh, get fucked,” Bokuto snickered, high-fiving Kuroo, who’d agreed.

“Oh, I passed them? I didn’t realize!” Hinata gaped.

“Well, to be fair, you didn’t know what any of them looked like,” Iwaizumi nodded, resting one leg over the other as he put an arm around the back of the couch.

Oikawa whined, “When am I going to show up?!”

Luckily (unfortunately for the rooster and the owl), Iwaizumi didn’t hear it well enough due to talking to the others at his current couch.

**“She turns me on when she ignores me,” the same voice blissfully sighed, his arms crossed over his chest in satisfaction.**

Kenma cringed, “It’s like Tora…”

“Oh, Yamamoto-san?” Kageyama wondered. “Tanaka-senpai rambled on and on about the ‘true strength’ of Karasuno or something while bringing up Kiyoko-san.”

Kuroo nodded, “Makes sense for those two, honestly.”

**As Hinata sprinted through the halls, getting closer to the gym, he scared off a crow, a few of its feathers falling near him.**

**_I’m here. I’m here at Karasuno!_ ** **He yipped mentally.** **_I’m going to train a lot._ **

**A volleyball bounced on the gym floor.**

**A pair of hands spun a volleyball in preparation.**

**_And then, against the King…_ **

**The ball was tossed up.**

**“I’ll get my revenge!” Hinata declared as he leaped up.**

**As Hinata landed, his face morphed into one with pure horror.**

_Did not think something would look worse than Tobio earlier, but hey, there’s a first time for everything,_ Oikawa thought with a smug look on his face.

Akaashi mumbled, “Gotta be real, that’s gotta be a real gut punch.” Of course, he’d made the connection before Bokuto.

“This is gold,” Kuroo snickered.

**In front of him was none other than Kageyama Tobio, already in the air, ready to serve the ball with an impassive look on his face.**

**“W-What are you doing here?!” Hinata interrogated in an accusatory tone, pointing frantically at the raven-haired setter.**

**His focus interrupted, Kageyama landed back on the ground to look at the sudden source of noise, only grunting momentarily as the ball hit his head.**

“Ah,” was all that came out of Bokuto’s mouth, before the largest shit-eating grin blasted its way onto his face. “Man, that’s gotta suck!”

Hinata groaned, “You have no idea...now I won’t be able to beat him in a match for the next three years!”

“And you never will,” Kageyama simpered.

“Already beat you in grades,” Oikawa reminded, causing the younger setter to recoil.

Kenma mused, “Wonder what’d happen if they were on the same team in middle school.”

Kageyama shrugged, “Might not hate him as much.”

Kuroo denied, “Maybe you woulda hated him more! You already know how much he asks for you to set to him, even when you’re tired.”

Kageyama sighed, rubbing his temples, “God, I can’t tell you how many times my legs gave out on the court and he’s still leaping around like a damn frog.”

“Hey! It’s not my fault you have low stamina!”

Akaashi noted, “To be fair, you ran every day. What do you think’s gonna happen? You just have a normal amount of stamina?”

Hinata shrugged innocently, “Next episode?”

“Oh no,” Kageyama interrupted. “You’re not getting out of this that easily!”

Quickly dodging his hand-claw, Hinata quickly read the next episode title, “KarasunoVolleyballHighSchoolClub!”

He pressed play at the speed of light, if not faster.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeehaw
> 
> i have dubbed kageyama's head squeeze the claw
> 
> hope you guys enjoyed!
> 
> p.s if i missed any of the orange juice shots or k.a.b's please let me know and i'll fix it (for this chapter please only from when the actual thing began)


	3. Episode 2: Karasuno High School Volleyball Club

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> insert episode 2 description
> 
> uh hinata and kageyama are salty for 20 minutes and then tanaka becomes a god
> 
> also yeah the wig thing but remember daichi said we can't talk bout it or summin idk

“Do you really think that’s going to work, dumbass?!” Kageyama belted, causing Hinata to wince behind Kenma, who the shorter boy’d taken shelter behind. Kenma, of course, wasn’t a fan of being used as a human shield, but he didn’t have the energy to stop it from happening.

“I know you won’t try to hit Kenma!” Hinata squeaked out, much to the amusement of the others watching.

“And why’s that?!” Kageyama held his hand out, fingers wiggling in an ominous motion.

“Yeah, no,” Akaashi and Kuroo interrupted, standing up and walking near the pudding-haired setter.

“Oh my god, you planned this all along, didn’t you, dumbass,” Kageyama muttered, seething as he backed off, sitting down begrudgingly.

Bokuto crossed his arms, “Akaashi, why don’t you defend me like that?!”

“‘Cause you use your chest in any situation you can. You can use it whenever you annoy people,” Akaashi shrugged, impassive.

“Um...can we play the episode now?” Iwaizumi spoke up, not knowing whether or not his words would only set Kageyama off more than he already was. Iwaizumi, of course, was quite fond of not having tinnitus, and he was more than willing to keep it that way.

“Fine,” Kageyama pouted, eyebrows still furrowed in frustration.

**_Why? Why is this guy at Karasuno?_ ** **Hinata thought, a smorgasbord of emotions filtering into his voice. His stance was ready to run in any direction, hands by his sides in a way that he could defend himself from whatever threat that could’ve possibly existed.**

**Of course, Kageyama took it all in stride, standing as tall as he always did. However, this time, his hands were by his sides, clenched into fists.**

“You look like a cornered animal,” Kenma observed, leaning back into the couch. He’d recovered from the event, though had a little bit of a headache from all the noise.

“Well, duh,” Hinata pouted. “What was I supposed to do? I was supposed to beat him!”

Oikawa snorted, “Yeah, but I was the one to do that first.” He stuck his tongue out, though his manner of doing so just seemed so much more...punchable than when Hinata did it.

“ _ We _ , you mean,” Iwaizumi grunted, jamming his elbow deep into his childhood friend’s side.

**Hinata’s face looked a little down, shadows cast over his eyes as he reached,** **_Maybe he’s just a lookalike._ **

Kuroo nearly wheezed, “Yeah, like there’s another emotionally screwed, raven-haired teen that just so happens to play volleyball.”

Akaashi wondered if he could act with Kuroo as Iwaizumi did with Oikawa.

Kageyama wondered what it would be like to have a doppelganger, tilting his head while staring at the T.V emptily as random hypothetical situations filled his mind.

Of course, Hinata already knew what would happen. He could just feel twice the force of a claw grip pressing on his head, just like a vice.

**Flashbacks of Kageyama’s words came to Hinata, loud as ever,** **_What are you doing here anyways? You make it sound so easy! I’ll be the last one standing. What were you doing for the last three years?!_ **

**Each phrase was accompanied by Kageyama standing in an increasingly intimidating pose, head tilted and filled with nothing but pure rage.**

**_There’s no mistake,_ ** **Hinata affirmed, a frustrated pout on his face.** **_This guy is Kageyama Tobio!_ **

“I mean, who else would look like he’s got a stick up his ass all the -- OW! Iwa-chan!” Oikawa snootily explained before a palm collided with the back of his head with the force of a thousand suns, causing the setter to recoil in pain.

“Have you two not gotten sick of that?” Akaashi questioned as they took their sixth gigantic gulp of orange juice.

Both Bokuto and Kuroo shook their heads enthusiastically as they set their glasses down on the table, grabbing some bread rolls to scarf down.

**“I met you last year…” Kageyama clicked his tongue, eyes widening slightly, though his expression was as simple as always. “But I don’t remember your name.”**

“I don’t even think I told you my name in the first place, Bakageyama!” Hinata, amused, smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You didn’t even know me.”

“How was I supposed to know?!” Kageyama barked, holding his hand out in front of him. “It’s not like I remember every moment of my life!”

“And that’s why you don’t have a lot of friends!” Hinata snickered, causing the Claw™ to come out.

“Okay, Kageyama, stop or I’m gonna turn you into an elbow pin cushion,” Iwaizumi warned.

Oikawa whispered fiercely, though far too obvious, “Tobio-chan, listen to him for once. Don’t mess up like I did.”

“And you just messed up,” Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, sniffing as he kicked Oikawa’s shin from his seat. Kuroo and Bokuto had no idea how.

**Hinata deadpanned, before quickly answering with his hands far out to the side, “I-I’m Hinata Shouyou! You probably don’t remember the team you beat in the first match!” He practically shouted the end part loudly, head tilted upwards to amplify his volume.**

**Before he finished his sentence, Kageyama’s head had turned to the side in thought, “I remember you very well.”**

**Hinata, taken aback, took a step back in surprise, a confused expression gracing his soft features.**

“Man, didn’t know you had a good memory,” Kenma admitted, shrugging as he brought his knees to his chest due to it being comfortable. “Considering what I’ve heard from your grades, I thought you had something like anterograde amnesia.”

“Antero-what now?” Kageyama sniffed, completely confused. “All I understood was ‘grades.’”

“Yeah, coming from the teen who didn’t know how to spell shovel,” Oikawa snorted.

“Practically short-term memory loss.”

**Another flashback came of Kageyama’s memories of the game.**

**Mainly, Hinata jumping high to spike the ball,** **_Your well-developed agility and reflexes…_ **

**In real time, Hinata blurted out some words that Kageyama was too far in thought that he couldn’t hear as he mentally spat out, frustration in his head,** **_But he doesn’t put any of it to good use._ **

“Hey! I put it to good use nowadays!” Hinata defended. “It’s not my fault I couldn’t practice with anyone!”

“So you’re admitting that I’m the reason you’re actually getting good,” Kageyama smirked, causing Hinata to splutter in embarrassment.

“N-No! I would’ve gotten good without you anyways!”

Akaashi clicked his tongue,  _ What’s it like to spike to Hinata? It’s not like he’s ever too slow to hit the ball, so he must be consistent with how he hits. _

“Are you sure about that, Chibi-chan?” Kuroo interrupted. “Your weird quick is cause he serves super accurately, not ‘cause of you, right?”

“W-Well, if I didn’t do that, he would’ve just stayed like the King the entire time!” Hinata retorted.

**Hinata felt his intense gaze, and tensed up, before putting his hands in front of him, “What, you wanna fight?!”**

“Do you think you’d win in a fight against Kageyama, Hinata?” Oikawa leaned over to ask.

Hinata sheepishly smiled, “I wanna say yes, but I’ve never even been in a fight. I don’t think I’d be able to even take a punch without crying…”

Kageyama clicked his tongue, “Well, I’ve never been in a fight either. I’ve never even been punched. Well, thanks to Iwaizumi.”

“No prob,” the ace muttered, stopping his drink mid-sip of his black coffee. He felt he’d need it, given how he’d barely made it through half an hour of watching with Oikawa and already wanted to leave.

“Huh?” Hinata tilted his head. “What’s that about?”

“Y’know, I’m curious about this too,” Kenma admitted. “You almost got punched? And what did Iwaizumi have to do with it?”

The two of them shared glances, before nodding as Iwaizumi scratched the back of his head, “Uh...if it’s fine, we’d prefer not to say anything about it.”

They took the answer, still unsatisfied but not to the point where they’d speak up about it.

Kenma didn’t miss the uneasy and tense position that Oikawa’s body had taken, however.

**Kageyama blurts out of nowhere, shoulders tense, “You were lousy!”**

**Hinata took a step back, pride broken in an instant, or at least, in his eyes, they were.**

**A moment passed before he took a gulp, stepping forward again and lowering his head again, body still in a position that seemed nowhere near aggressive, “D-Don’t make fun of me. Sure, we got slaughtered by you guys, but next time, I won’t lose!”**

**Hinata’s intense, determined gaze pierced through Kageyama’s, whose eyes had widened.**

**However, his eyes turned soft as blunderous emotions flew through him, “W-Well, that’s what I pledged to myself, so what are you doing here?!” He pointed frantically at Kageyama.**

“Why did you go to Karasuno anyways, Kageyama?” Kuroo interrogated. “You probably could’ve made it to a bigger school at the time.”

“Well, I heard Coach Ukai was coming out of retirement.”

“Really?” Kenma raised his eyebrow, slightly interested. “What happened?”

“He got hospitalized again,” Hinata pouted. “And I was so ready to learn something super awesome from him!”

“You didn’t even know him until recently, dumbass.”

“That’s not the point!”

**“How can I beat you if we’re on the same team?!”**

“I dunno, practice matches?” Kuroo snorted. “Any other aspect outside of volleyball?”

Akaashi clicked his tongue, “Well, I don’t think that’s what he’s aiming for.”

“Yeah!” Bokuto cried out in support. “If anything, volleyball’s the thing Hinata should beat him in!”

“Well, we do race each other all the time,” Kageyama explained. “He’s got way more stamina than me but I’m faster.”

“W-Wait, no!” Hinata stuttered, a frustrated blush hitting his face. “I’m beating you, 70-68!”

**“Shouldn’t you be at some school with super strong players?! Why didn’t you go there?!” Hinata cried out in frustration.**

**A contemplative look graced Kageyama’s features, before he looked off again to the side in embarrassment.**

**“The strongest school in the prefecture…” Kageyama began. Hinata tensed up, unsure where he’d continue from there.**

**A dark expression came upon his newly salty face, “rejected me.”**

Iwaizumi snickered, “Yeah, wonder why.”

“They didn’t offer me a sports scholarship, so I tried to get in normally,” Kageyama explained.

“Yeah, and with your grades, it’s more likely for Hinata to get tall,” Oikawa elaborated further.

“Hey!” The short boy mentioned, before something dawned on him. “Kenma! Apple!”

Kenma pouted, “Do I have to?”

“Mhm!”

Kuroo shrugged, whining, “Jeez, Chibi-chan, how can you even get him to do that? I can barely get him to eat, and I’ve known him for years!”

Hinata sheepishly shrugged, “I dunno myself.”

K.A.B’s: 3!

**A blank look landed on Hinata’s face, before he tilted his head in confusion, “You didn’t make it? Even though you’re the King of the Court?”**

**A scowl quickly etched its way onto Kageyama’s face, anger radiating off of the setter.**

**“Don’t call me that!” He growled, his eyebrows furrowed in frustration.**

**Hinata took a step back out of instinct, wondering out loud, “Huh?”**

**“The first setter of Kitagawa is on our team?” A voice yawned from outside, causing the tension to break.**

**As Hinata’s shoulders unwound, he turned his head towards the source of the noise, followed by Kageyama.**

“Jeez, it’d be so cool to be called the King,” Bokuto whined. “Why isn’t he more grateful for it?” He pouted, resting his head on his hand with an envious look in his eyes.

“Yeah,” Oikawa began, his tone a bit serious. “It’s not cool when it’s related to Tobio-chan.”

To Kuroo’s surprise, Iwaizumi didn’t elbow him.

In fact, he agreed, “Mhm. But the good thing is that he’s gotten better ever since...that match where they lost.”

Hinata clicked his tongue, “I heard all about that match, but I don’t know what happened. Did you guys watch?”

Oikawa nodded, but waved his hand to dismiss the subject, “Yeah, but they’ll probably show us it in some flashback or something.”

**“But the guy’s totally cocky,” the voice continued.**

**“Just...don’t try to intimidate him, okay?” Another person requested calmly, though directed his question at another person.**

**“I-I wouldn’t do something like that,” another voice denied.**

Of course, it was easy for Hinata and Kageyama to recognize the voices.

Oikawa only recognized one voice, “Ugh, Mr. Refreshing really trying to mediate everything again.”

Hinata only broke out into a cheerful smile, “Oh, that must be Tanaka-senpai!”

Kageyama nodded, “And Sawamura-san and Sugawara-san.”

Kenm scratched the back of his head, “Wait, weren’t there others on the team?”

Hinata had a sheepish smile on his face as he explained, “Well...it’s kind of complicated.”

The others in the room wanted to know, since it just couldn’t be the five of the people shown, but didn’t push further. If Hinata wanted to explain, he would’ve done it ten times over by now.

**“Sup,” Kageyama greeted, his voice suddenly having a somewhat higher pitch as he turned to the incoming people.**

**As the three voices walked into the gym, the words ‘Karasuno High School Volleyball Club’ were legible on the back of their jackets.**

**Panning upwards, three faces were put to the voices, one of them being very easy to correlate to the voice without them even speaking again.**

**This, of course, was the bald man, who had an intimidating sneer on his face.**

Kenma shuddered, “That was how Yamamoto tried to greet the first-years. It made me embarrassed to even know him.”

Kuroo pinched the bridge of his nose as a result, “God, the gym smelled like piss for the next few days. I can’t even tell you how much I wanted to suspend him for a week or two.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, somewhat disamused, “Then why didn’t you?”

**“Hey, hey, hey,” the bald man began, obviously making his voice far more gravelly than it normally was. “Who said you guys could--”**

**Before he could continue, the taller man grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.**

_ Just like Yamamoto,  _ Kenma sighed.  _ They really are the same person. _

“Tobio-chan, why aren’t you...reacting?” Oikawa asked, causing Iwaizumi to nod in agreement. “I would’ve felt a little creeped out.”

Kageyama shrugged, “I thought it was just something that would happen for something like an initiation or something.   
Akaashi raised an eyebrow, “What sort of volleyball initiation things are you guys going through? Mine was just Bokuto greeting everyone super loudly.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, “They were all pretty cool, but they made it so that I couldn’t hit Asskawa as often during practice. Since we’re third-years now, I can do it all I want.”

Oikawa gasped dramatically, “Iwa-chan, how could you?!”

Hinata grumbled, “I wish I could hit Kageyama, but I don’t like making people super angry.”

**“You’re Kageyama?” The tallest one asked, calmly holding the bald man up by his collar with a smile.**

**“Yep,” Kageyama answered casually, nodding his head. Hinata, not used to everyone’s height, creeped around like he was an 8-year-old acting like he was Spider-Man.**

**“Glad you’re here,” the captain formally greeted.**

**“Jeez, you’re tall!” Sugawara chuckled, a smile on his face.**

**Tanaka, once released, instantly reverted back to his intimidation phase, “He needs an initiation, Suga-san! Let’s give him a reason to be intimidated by us third-years!”**

**Of course, Tanaka made a face, while Hinata quietly tiptoed his way behind them in awe of their height.**

“Wait, isn’t Tanaka a second year?” Kuroo scratched his temple, a little confused.

“Yep,” Kenma answered. “I guess he just wanted to intimidate them.”

“How do you know that?” Bokuto tilted his head. “When have you ever talked to anyone outside of the Shrimpy and Kuroo?”

“Tora tried the same thing.”

~~~

“Achoo!” A tough-guy-esque voice echoed through the locker room. “God, am I getting a cold or something?”

“Yamamoto-san, that’s like the third time you’ve sneezed in the last few minutes!” Lev cheerily said, putting on his jersey. “Wait, where’s Kenma-san and Kuroo-san?”

“Oh,” Yaku hummed. “They were called to Miyagi along with some members from Fukurodani to talk with the coaches about this training camp or whatever.”

“Are you guys just not gonna ignore the fact that I’m dying here?!” Yamamoto exclaimed.

“Yep,” Yaku sighed, already fed up.

~~~

“Oh, that makes sense,” Kageyama nodded.

**“Tanaka, stop with that face,” Daichi tried to maintain a calm voice.**

**Hinata’s eyes widened a little,** **_Kageyama’s a little taller than them. But...high-schoolers are kinda big…_ **

**His eyes slowly went to the back of the others’ jackets, reading the familiar text,** **_That’s right...I’m a high schooler now, too!_ ** **There was a bit of a smile tugging at his lips that he wouldn’t completely let show, somewhat in disbelief and somewhat in pride.**

**“H-Hi!” He tensed up, a tense smile on his face as his arms clung to his sides, but his voice unheard.**

**“How tall are you?” Daichi asked.**

**“180 centimeters,” Kageyama answered, not sure whether or not he should’ve rounded or not.**

“Wow, first time someone’s thought of Chibi-Chan as quiet enough not to notice,” Kuroo noted. “That’s a first.”

“If only it could’ve stayed that way,” Kageyama complained, causing Hinata to pout in protest.

**“H-Hello?” Hinata asked, still a bit unaware of the situation, yet once he heard, he deadpanned.**

**He took a slightly deep breath, “H-Hi!” His voice was far louder than before, effectively interrupting the conversation, leading all eyes to be on him.**

**“Oh! You!” Tanaka exclaimed. “Shorty #1!”**

Kenma pouted, “Don’t even say it, Shou.”

“Hey, you were the one who agreed to it!”

K.A.B’s: 4!

**His facial expression...** **_yeah, there was genuinely no way to describe it in a way that would justify the animator’s effort._ **

“Animators?” Kuroo questioned stupidly. “Is this genuinely some kind of show?”

“I dunno,” Bokuto shrugged. “And I don’t feel like getting into phixosock--”

“Philosophy,” Akaashi corrected.

“That!” Bokuto exclaimed. “Right now. Besides, this is for future volleyball stuff!”

**Sugawara and Daichi seemed a little taken aback, before the latter rose the papers in his hand to read, “Oh, so the other applicant here, Hinata, is...you?”**

**Hinata nodded, a little uncomfortable with all the eyes on him with so little noise.**

**Daichi admitted, a somewhat stunned expression on his face, “I’m surprised…” a soft smile came on his face. “I see. So both of you came here to Karasuno.” As Hinata stepped to the other first-year, he tilted his head in confusion.**

**“U-Uh…” Hinata stuttered, not sure what was going on.**

**“We saw your match last year,” Sugawara lightly giggled, smiling while Tanaka grinned, impressed at the two.**

**“** **You’re way short and sucked bad, but you’ve got guts!** **” Tanaka complimented and insulted.**

“Wait, what?” Kageyama tilted his head.

“Oh, heck, I turned on the subtitles!” Hinata fumbled with the remote, caught off guard, before dropping it on the floor.

Kenma calmly reached over to pick it up, “I got it.”

He turned off the subtitles with a single click.

The moment he pressed the button, Kageyama growled, fingers already forming the Claw™.

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, “Hey, aren’t you supposed to be eating an apple right now?”

Kenma rolled his eyes, but accepted it after seeing Hinata pout right before the Claw was put to use, “Yeah, yeah…” he picked up the apple hesitantly, a sour expression on his face.

“I mean, he does have guts. Too much, if you ask me,” Kuroo snorted.

“Too bad guts doesn’t mean he’ll win!” Oikawa sang.

“Shut it, asshat,” Iwaizumi growled. He flexed his fingers, and with practiced ease, smacked Oikawa’s head so hard some of the members of the room found it a miracle that the setter’s head was still attached to his body.

_ Clink! _

K.A.B’s: 5! (I swear, there’s going to be so many of these by like, the end of the fifth episode that he’s going to need to get more apples or something.)

Orange juice shots: 7! (I have no idea how I’ve kept it this low.)

**“Thanks!” Hinata, embarrassed, accepted with a blush on his face.**

**Sugawara put a hand on his chin, complimenting the ginger, “Your jumps were amazing, too.”**

Bokuto gasped, “I haven’t actually seen his jump before!” He pointed frantically at the ginger. “Can you show me one of your jumps real quick?”

Hinata tilted his head, a little confused, “Uh...sure?”

“Make sure you don’t sprain your ankle on your landing, dumbass,” Kageyama muttered, causing his teammate to stick a tongue out at him playfully.

Hinata stood up from the couch and found the most open area.

He took a breath, crouching down to jump.

Of course, after a few seconds, as Kuroo expected, Bokuto had been staring at the ginger with wide eyes and an open mouth.

_ I could’ve sworn I saw some sort of wind follow him upwards!  _ Bokuto was ready to swear on every god he’d ever seen.

Of course, Hinata was doing his best not to swear in the slightest as he rubbed his head in pain.

“That’s kind of what you get when you jump so high you hit the ceiling of this room,” Oikawa snickered. “I don’t even think I’d hit the ceiling if I jumped.”

**Tanaka waved a hand between him and Hinata, “But you haven’t grown much since.”**

**Hinata blushed in embarrassment before stating, “I-I might be small, but I can jump!”**

Kenma sighed, “Shou, can I just skip this bite?”

Hinata pouted, “But whyyyy?”

Kenma shrugged, “I feel like I might finish the apple too fast.”

“...Fine.”

**“I-I’ll be Karasuno’s ace!” Hinata stated, a fire in his eyes with determination in his voice.**

**Of course, Tanaka brushed it off with another goofy expression, “Oy, oy, did you, the newbie, just say you’re going to be the ace? You’ve got some nerve!” Hinata took a step back, slightly intimidated**

**Sugawara lightheartedly chuckled, “It is good to be ambitious, right?” In response, Hinata shot him a grateful glance, sheepishly smiling.**

**“I-I’ll do my best!” Hinata shyly laughed, scratching the back of his head.**

**“Hey,” Kageyama hummed, boredom in his tone. “If you want to be the ace, I hope you’ve improved.”**

“Hey, I remember that!” Hinata hummed. “Bakageyama was super mean to me.”

“That’s cause you were trash,” Kageyama retorted.

“Yeah, but you don’t have to try to murder me with a volleyball because of it!”

Akaashi raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. Iwaizumi, however, had a feeling he knew what was coming, only because of the setter that had somehow become his childhood best friend.

**Kageyama took on a darker tone, “If you goof around, you’ll be wasting another three years.”**

**Hinata, on a rare occurrence, scowled, “What’d you say?”**

“I’ll be real,” Kuroo noted. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him have a negative emotion on his face other than a pout.”

Oikawa snickered, “Yeah, neither have I...until I beat him!”

Hinata turned red, sputtering, “We’re gonna beat you next time!”

Kageyama nodded in agreement.

Kenma hummed, “I think I’ve only seen him not smile once before this, and that was the second time we had a practice game.”

Kageyama, once again, nodded, scoffing, “God, he actually cried at that because we played seven sets and everyone was dead tired but he was still sprinting around. I don’t think I’d ever wanted to kill him so badly but couldn’t.”

Akaashi’s eyebrows raised, “Seven sets?”

“Yep,” Kuroo explained. “Coach Nekomata couldn’t say no.”

**Daichi scratched the back of his head as the two first-years glared daggers at each other, “Why do you have to say something like that, Kageyama?”**

**However, it seemed like the pair didn’t hear them as Hinata explained, annoyance in his tone, “We played with all our might.”**

**_A flash of the game score came on the screen. 8-25 points in the second set._ **

**Hinata hung his head, biting his lip, memories of his team flashing through his mind, “But...don’t tell me everything I’ve done has been a waste!”**

**Daichi hummed, pinching the bridge of his nose, “Guys, you know you’re not enemies anymore, right?”**

Kuroo snorted, “They still think of themselves as enemies.”

Hinata hummed, “This is just...until we graduate from high school.”

“Yeah,” Kageyama agreed. “Then I’ll be able to crush you over and over professionally for everyone to watch.” He had the most confident smirk on his face while he said that.

Hinata retorted, “Okay, Mr. Set to Himself!”

“Hey! You said you’d never bring that up again!”

Iwaizumi elbowed Kageyama lightly, “You know, you have the claw thing for Hinata, but don’t think my forearm can’t exert the same force.”

Instantly, Kageyama froze, and Oikawa sighed in relief, glad he wasn’t the target of physical destruction.

Bokuto clicked his tongue, “I wanna play volleyball now!”

Kuroo chuckled, “You always want to, airhead.”

Kenma yawned quietly, stretching like a kitten, “Imagine wanting to play volleyball. Couldn’t be me.”

**“Volleyball is about teamwork --” Daichi pointed out, but was interrupted.**

**“I’ll challenge you!” Hinata declared, not even hearing the captain’s words.**

**“Oy! Daichi’s still talking!” Tanaka admonished, his voice all gravelly once more.**

“Jeez, if I did that now, I’d be yelled at to the moon and back…”

**“Challenge me? To what?” Kageyama questioned stupidly, tilting his head in confusion.**

**“To volleyball, of course!”**

**“How do you expect to challenge me one-on-one?”**

“Ooh, Daichi looks pissed,” Kuroo snickered.

**The captain’s friendly expression turned acerbic as the two continued to argue, antipathy clear in their expressions.**

**“L-Like a passing contest or something!”**

**“How do you compete in passing?!”**

“He does bring up a good point,” Oikawa mused out loud, coyly smiling.

**“Listen, damn it!” Tanaka tried to abase, though to no avail.**

**All the arguments and lectures ceased once a nasal voice came in, “What’s all the commotion, volleyball club?”**

Hinata gagged.

Literally everyone in the room raised their eyebrows at that. They’d known Hinata to look and think of everyone as if they hung the stars in the sky, even Kageyama.

In fact, Aoba Johsai and Fukurodani wholeheartedly thought that he hadn’t had a single negative emotion towards anything other than Kageyama at times.

Kenma and Kuroo only knew about it from the few times Kenma had invited Hinata to sleep over, followed by Kuroo somehow breaking in, and both of them losing repeatedly for hours on end to the video game addict in Mario Kart.

Regardless, the point was, seeing Hinata have a negative feeling towards someone already made them uneasy as to whoever it was.

**A short man with unusually chubby cheeks sauntered in, an unamused, rather disheartened expression on his face.**

“He looks like he has a wig on his head,” Oikawa snickered.

Iwaizumi felt the urge to smack the setter for that, but his statement was so true, he couldn’t help but not, “No doubt.”

Akaashi sighed, “He could’ve at least put effort into making it seem like it was real.”

**“Yikes,” Tanaka hissed. “The vice principal.”**

**Sugawara whispered urgently, “You mean Sensei.”**

**Tanaka gulped, disgusted as having to genuinely show respect to the man, “Sensei!”**

**“You’d better not be fighting,” the vice principal lectured.**

“Man, it almost made me want to actually throw hands with Hinata, hearing that,” Kageyama crossed his arms over his chest, Kenma nodding in agreement.

“I might have actually quit volleyball if that was the first experience I’d had,” Kenma clicked his tongue.

**“Of course not. Just a friendly rivalry, right?” Daichi spoke through a strained voice, clearly trying to keep his soul in his body.**

**“Psst,” Tanaka whispered extremely loudly. “The vice principal likes to make trouble, so keep it down.”**

Kenma shuddered.

“Another thing from Yamamoto-san?” Iwaizumi predicted, causing the pudding-haired boy to nod.

Kuroo rolled his eyes, yawning, “You’re thinking about that, aren’t you?”

Kenma nodded.

Hinata bounced in his seat, “Tell us! Tell us!”

Kenma felt the eyes on him, gulping, but surprisingly didn’t feel too uncomfortable, “Tora got suspended for a month in our first year because he thought he was whispering while gossiping about Yaku, but wasn’t even keeping his voice quiet.”

“You’re lucky he didn’t get angry at you,” Kuroo snickered.

~~~

“Okay, come back here at the end of the day, when you aren’t acting like you have the damn plague!” Yaku hissed, shoving the spiker out of the locker room.

He sneezed only a moment after.

Kai snickered, causing the libero to shoot an embarrassed glare at his fellow third-year.

~~~

**“Serve! I’ll return them all!” Hinata declared with a scowl.**

**“Hey!” Tanaka growled, clearly displeased with not being listened to.**

**“I was only able to get one of your serves last year!” Hinata explained, memories of him being hit in the face with a ball coming up.**

**_But I’ve been training with all kinds of people!_ ** **Hinata remembered flashbacks coming to him sprinting with the baseball club, the girls’ volleyball club, and with the basketball club on their sprints showing up.**

**“A-Anyways, I’m not the same person as last year,” Hinata stuttered, trying to get the words out after remembering the impact of the ball.**

**Kageyama only took a deep breath, before sighing, “Not the same person as last year, huh?” He started to walk towards the other side of the net, making sure to pick up one of the stray volleyballs on the floor.**

**“I’m not the same person as last year, either,” Kageyama confidently explained, palming the ball as shadows were cast over him by the light coming from outside.**

“Okay, I gotta say, that’s super cool,” Bokuto gaped, starry-eyed.

“I mean, he is my student!” Oikawa alluded to his own ability with an extremely fake smile on his face.

Akaashi wondered out loud, “How good are you as a setter, Kageyama?”

The raven-haired boy waved absentmindedly. “Depends on who you ask, I guess.”

Akaashi had literally no idea what that was supposed to mean.

**“Now, now, guys,” Daichi tried to assuage the problem. “Let’s not get carried away…”**

**The vice principal crossed his arms, “Is he a first-year student?”**

**As Hinata got into position, Kageyama finally made his way to the other side of the net.**

**The ginger leaned a little downwards, taking a deep breath,** **_Relax, you’ve got this. You’ve trained with the others from your school before!_ **

“Honestly, Kageyama, that...was cool,” Hinata remembered, causing the setter to nudge him in the side.

“Everything I do is cool, dumbass,” he snickered, a coy smirk on his face.

“Hey, Kageyama,” Hinata brought up, a sing-song tone to his voice. “What was that thing you said about trust?”

Kageyama gulped, “W-We don’t talk about that.”

“Sure we don’t.”

**“Here goes,” Kageyama clicked his tongue, tossing the ball up into the air.**

**Hinata’s determined expression turned a little surprised,** **_A jump serve? He didn’t do that last --_ **

**In an instant, the camera panned to Kageyama, who’s look had become far more fierce and rough. It was similar to Mad Dog’s entire playing style, but for a serve.**

**Swinging with the force of what seemed like Zeus himself, Kageyama smacked the ball hard enough that it was near Hinata before he could gain his bearings again.**

**Speaking of, the boy barely had time to react before dodging out of the way.**

Akaashi whistled, impressed, “Well, I guess I got a bit of my answer. I don’t know a lot of people who regularly do jump serves, let alone first-years.”

Kageyama shrugged, “I saw Oikawa-san do it during one of our games and had been trying to work on it myself. I actually finished polishing it the summer before this year.”

Hinata snickered, “Yeah, but his is still way stronger than yours. Like, you’re not even close.”

“Hey! Not like you can do any better!”

Kenma only glanced at Oikawa, who seemed so...flamboyant and casual, as if he never took anything seriously.

He wondered how that man, of all people, could so easily beat the setter that he’d had to get to know better, considering how the taller boy always hunted Hinata down to practice. Of course, that meant that the pudding-haired boy usually had to put effort into finding time to hang out with the ginger.

Of course, being Kenma, he didn’t really do that, considering how social interaction wasn’t something really necessary to him.

Kuroo whistled, “Oikawa, you got stronger serves than that?” He gestured to the T.V.

Oikawa nodded, “Yeah. Worked on it since I was a kid.”

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, “Learned from...José Blanco, right?”

Oikawa chirped, “Yep! He was what inspired me to be a setter, actually.”

Bokuto gaped, “Him? I heard he was one of the world’s top setters!”

Oikawa could only nod, remembering his meeting with the man.

**As Hinata sat up from dodging out of the way, Tanaka and Sugawara gaped, impressed. Daichi looked on, unsure what to really do in the situation.**

**“I’m not sure** **_I_ ** **could’ve returned that one!” One of them complimented as Hinata looked at Kageyama with a shocked expression.**

**_Nobody I’ve ever met did anything like that!_ ** **The short teen gasped.**

**“How’s that any different from last year?” Kageyama hissed, getting back into position.**

**Hinata’s shocked expression turned offended, as he quickly got up.**

**“One more,” he urged, getting his balance back.**

“I don’t even try to really receive something like that,” Kenma muttered. “Looks like it’ll tear my arms off.”

“But Kenmaaa!” Hinata whined. “You’re going to have to receive those if we’re going to play against you at Nationals!”

“So?”

**“Hey, enough is enough,” Daichi raised his voice, but was interrupted by the vice principal.**

**“They don’t listen to their captain. Looks like it could be a problem,” the short man sneered.**

**As Kageyama served again, it looked like it was far from Hinata’s reach.**

**That is, of course, until Hinata dashed into the way of the ball long before it reached its destination with a quick hop.**

**Kageyama’s eyes slightly widened as he landed, watching the ball.**

**Sugawara raised an eyebrow, shocked,** **_He’s got fast reflexes!_ **

**In slow-motion, the ball quickly reached Hinata’s arms, bouncing off of them...right into his face.**

Kageyama sighed blissfully, “Man, that was a beautiful moment.”

The ginger smirked, elbowing him lightly in the side, “Don’t forget about what happened next.”

**“If this keeps happen--” The vice principal sighed, before being smacked right in the face by the ball, causing ripples to run through his cheeks and the rest of his face.**

**Similar to a Street Fighter fight end, the screen might as well have had a big “K.O!” plastered on it, the wig flying off with the elegance of a swan.**

Kuroo and Bokuto, as if a light switch was turned on, started walrus-laughing, unable to catch their breath as they relentlessly pointed at the T.V.

Oikawa’s eyes widened, before an extremely amused smile forced its way onto his face as he couldn’t help the chuckles that escaped his mouth.

Even the calmer ones, Akaashi, Kenma, and Iwaizumi, couldn’t stop laughing in amusement at the sight of the wig flying off, a sight literally only their best friends had seldom seen in the past.

“Man, those were the good days,” Hinata sighed blissfully, causing Kageyama to nod in agreement.

**Various looks of varying amusement, concern, and confusion were plastered straight on the members of Karasuno.**

**The wig, ever so graceful, gently landed on Daichi’s head, who was too shocked and in disbelief to even move a single muscle.**

“Imagine him actually having that sort of hair,” Kuroo snorted.

Kenma rolled his eyes, but hadn’t even tried to keep the amusement out of his eyes, “Don’t think I’d be able to respect him.”

Kuroo gasped, “You respect him as a captain but not me?!”

Kenma bit back a smile, “Well...I can’t say no.”

**The ball gently bounced on the gym floor.**

**As Kageyama returned from his side of the net, he breathlessly whispered in disbelief, “He was wearing a wig?” In the meantime, Daichi slowly pulled the wig off of his head and kept it in his grip, a dark expression on his face.**

**Hinata snorted, “You just noticed? Everyone at the opening ceremony could tell!” He whispered, but his amusement seeped through, his attempt failing every word he spoke, enjoyment crashing through in waves.**

**Tanaka held up a hand to his mouth, snickers coming through it as he tried to lecture, “You guys! Stop it!” However, only a few seconds later, he too curled over in poorly hidden laughter.**

**Sugawara flushed, embarrassed, reprimanding, “Tanaka, you shut up, too.”**

Kuroo cracked a grin, “Man, this was your guys’ start? I wish ours was this fun!”

Kenma denied, “Nah, that’d be too much work for me to go through.”

**The vice-principal turned around, an unknown expression on his face, mostly akin to hidden rage and mortification, “Sawamura-kun, I’d like to have a word with you.”**

Oikawa snickered, “Shouldn’t it be Shrimpy and Tobio-chan?”

_ Smack! _

“Ow, Iwa-chan! What was that for?!”

“Your voice is irksome.”

Orange juice shots: 8!

**After a few minutes passed, the present members of the volleyball club were standing in front of Daichi, whose back was turned to the camera.**

**“Fortunately, he’s not punishing us,” he started, sighing. “No apologies necessary...as long as you don’t mention this to anyone else.”**

**Kageyama barked, whispering fiercely, “This is all because you couldn’t receive a serve! You suck! What’s different from last year?!”**

**“You talk too much,” Hinata hissed.**

“You sure you’re the one to say that, Shou?” Kenma raised an eyebrow. “There’s barely a moment other than now where I’ve seen you actually not make any noise.”

“That’s not a fair comparison to make!” Hinata whined. “I can be quiet at times!”

“Name one time when we hung out together and you were able to keep quiet.”

“...”

“Point proven.”

**“I was dumb to even think you’ve improved!”**

“I mean, from what I’ve heard, you might just be dumb in general,” Akaashi muttered to himself, though Bokuto could hear it.

“Hey, it’s not his fault! He just loves volleyball!” The owl-head defended.

“Says the guy who failed his math final.”

“You said you wouldn’t say anything about that!”

“Just like how you said you’d study and pass.”

**As Tanaka and Sugawara looked at the two, unsure of what to do, Daichi interrupted, “Hey. Listen to me.”**

**As everyone turned straight to face him, the captain began, “I don’t know what your motive for attending Karasuno was. But I’m sure you came here with victory on your mind.”**

**Hinata and Kageyama nodded fervently.**

**A shot of a random street was shown, crows picking away at trash bins while occasionally glancing at each other, “Karasuno was one of the top teams in the prefecture until only a few years ago. In fact, we went to nationals, granted, it only happened once.”**

“That’s ‘cause I joined!” Oikawa bragged. “I’m the reason that Karasuno was knocked down a peg!”

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, “Tell that to Ushijima.”

**Daichi crossed his arms, “But now, we’re at best, in the top 8. We’re neither weak nor strong. I’ve heard of schools even calling us the ‘Crows that can’t fly,’ or the ‘fallen rivals.’”**

Kuroo nodded, clicking his tongue, “I mean, yeah, since you guys lost to us in a practice match.”

Kageyama retorted, “That doesn’t mean you guys didn’t fall down in rank either!”

Kenma quietly argued, “We still beat you.”

Hinata joined in, “We’ll beat you next time!”

Bokuto cleared his throat, a prideful grin on his face, “Don’t worry, all! When the training camp starts, I’ll be beating all of you equally!”

**A flashback to a younger Daichi came on the screen, holding a sports back while wearing a white hoodie with blue stripes on the sleeves while he continued narrating, “I remember well when Karasuno competed in Spring Nationals.**

**“With them in my neighborhood, I’d pass by high school students that competed against the best teams in the country, in that huge gym in Tokyo.”**

Kuroo snorted, “Wait, this is him?! I gotta snap a picture!”

He whipped out his phone, before being stopped with a glare from Kenma, “And how are you going to explain how you got this picture of Sawamura-san? He doesn’t even take pictures with Sugawara.”

Kuroo waved it off nonchalantly, “I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”

**Daichi slowly opened his eyes, reminiscing, “It gave me goosebumps.”**

**Hinata lightly untensed, remembering his own experience seeing Karasuno on the T.V.**

**The captain gained a determined look on his face, declaring, “We’re going to go there again.”**

**Hinata gasped, sending a look over his shoulder only to imagine the sight of the gigantic court, filled with a massive crowd and the bright stadium lights.**

**His eyes slightly widened,** **_I’m going to the same court as the Little Giant._ **

**Kageyama lightly frowned, recalling, “There are tons of schools that want to go to nationals and compete.”**

**Tanaka scowled, “You idiot.”**

Iwaizumi smirked lightly, slightly amused, “Now that was a dumb thing to say.”

“You can’t read the room at all, can you, Tobio-chan?”

Kageyama flushed, embarrassed as he defended himself, “I was just stating a fact!”

“Not the right time to do it,” Kenma mumbled, checking the time on his phone.

**Daichi gained a slightly more serious look, “Don’t worry. I mean what I say completely.”**

**Kageyama tensed up while Hinata tilted his head in confusion while Daichi explained further, “For that to happen, we have to be unified as a team.”**

**He held up a finger before the two could continue arguing, “And we can’t have the vice principal keeping an eye on us.”**

**Tanaka stepped out of the way with a tense expression, remembering what happened to him, while Sugawara casually stepped to the side with a lighthearted smile, already knowing what would come up.**

“I dunno,” Bokuto grinned. “Pretty sure seeing the vice principal get smacked a few more times would do the team some good.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue, “You know, I wonder why Karasuno just has so many odd variables. First, their manager.”

“Manager?” Bokuto parrotted.

“Gorgeous. Like, probably the most attractive girl you’d ever see,” Kuroo shrugged. “Then, the freak duo. Their vice principal, their libero being awarded the best libero award in the prefecture. They’ve got a bunch of weird stuff.”

**Daichi walked up to the two of them, “I’m not telling you two to become buddies.”**

**Darkness shrouded his face, to the point where his features were too dark to see any part of his face, “Even if you were enemies on opposite sides of the net in junior high, you need to understand that you’re on the same side now.”**

**He lifted his head slightly, wrinkles of frustration and hidden rage all over his face, “Do you get it?”**

“God, he seems like a good player,” Bokuto hummed, crossing a leg over another.

Kuroo snickered, “Yeah, he’s pretty fun to hang around.”

Akaashi rolled his eyes, “Meaning he’s easy to piss off.”

Iwaizumi scoffed, “Better not try any of that with me.”

**Hinata and Kageyama shivered under the intense gaze.**

**Daichi put one hand on Kageyama’s shoulder, “No matter how outstanding you are…”**

**He then put a hand on Hinata’s shoulder, “No matter how willing you are to give it your all…”**

**He dragged the two to the outside of the gym, causing Tanaka and Sugawara to continue to gaze at them.**

“You know, looking back, that probably wasn’t a good first impression,” Hinata admitted.

“Duh,” Kenma muttered.

Hinata stuck his tongue out playfully, at both Kenma and Kageyama, “Shush. Anyways, even if my first impression sucked, I know it was probably better than what Kageyama did!”

Kageyama pulled out the Claw™, “Shut it.”

**Daichi pulled out their application papers, “If you fail to get along, and hinder your teammates…”**

**He smacked their application papers onto their forehead, pushing them down the stairs, “You aren’t wanted here!”**

**Hinata’s paper remained on his forehead while Kageyama grabbed it off while both of them stared up at the captain, “Unless you realize that you’re both teammates, you won’t be in this club!”**

**Daichi shut the doors aggressively, causing both Hinata and Kageyama to fall silent. The caws of crows could be heard, along with the silent breeze.**

“Now Kageyama not trying to kill Hinata?” Oikawa mused. “That’s rare.”

“Tch. Least he’s not super annoying like someone,” Iwaizumi smirked.

“Iwa-chan! Why can’t you not try to kill me?!”

“‘Cause you’re annoying.”

**Kageyama and Hinata both stared off into space, before turning their attention to the papers on their head.**

**As if on cue, they realized the predicament that they’d fallen into, a mortified expression falling onto both of their faces.**

**With their horrified faces being on the screen, it instantly cut to the commercial break.**

Akaashi chuckled, but tried to hide it with a cough.

Oikawa blinked, disappointment dripping from his voice, “Tobio-chan…”

Iwaizumi couldn’t even bring himself to smack his best friend; seeing that scene really just sapped some of the energy he’d had left in him.

“Oh, man, I can’t wait to see what happens next!” Hinata playfully smirked as he bounces excitedly up and down in his seat.

Bokuto pouted, “That was so mean!”

Kuroo hummed, taking an extra gulp of orange juice just for kicks, “If someone was that loud and annoying, wouldn’t you do the same?”

Akaashi piped up, “No, he’d be joining them.”

**Hinata, confused, whispered heartlessly, “What does it mean to realize we’re teammates?”**

**His eyes darted over to Kageyama, who seemed just as lost as he was, though still belted in desperation, “How do you do it?!”**

**Kageyama stammered, unsure of himself, “W-Who knows?!”**

“After the volleyball game in middle school, he might be a worse person to ask than you,” Kenma clicked his tongue calmly, noting the salty expression that came upon the aggressive setter’s face.

**Hinata pleaded and begged, “P-Please let me in! Please let me play volleyball! I’ll [try to] get along with Kageyama too!”**

“See, even the T.V knows how bullshit it is,” Kuroo snorted at the randomly inserted text.

“They don’t even get along now,” Oikawa snickered.

**Inside, Sugawara listened in with a raised eyebrow, before cautiously looking over to the captain, who’d had his arms crossed, “Are you sure about this, Daichi? They’re still members…” He’d put his hands in his jacket pockets, before his eyes went back to Tanaka, who’d practically died from amusement on the gym floor.**

**“I know that teams gradually come together,” Daichi began, before his voice began to trail off as he heard some odd noises in the background. “But…”**

**A grunt and a shove were heard, followed by a belligerent “Out of my way!”**

**Back outside, Hinata had just hit the floor, recovering from the blow as he kipped his way back up.**

“Yeah, gradually come together,” Kuroo crooned. “How’s that going along for you?”

He glanced at the first-year duo, only to find a sight he should’ve expected:

Kageyama and Hinata glaring daggers at each other, scowls on both of their faces as they growled.

“That was all your fault! If you just didn’t try to kill me for five seconds, we wouldn’t have had to do that!”

“It was on you for sucking so badly!”

Kenma creeped in the conversation, “It was both of your faults for being idiots.”

Both of them started to move their raging eyes towards whoever spoke, which they didn’t register, before they saw who it was.

Instantly, under the slightly disappointed gaze of Kenma, both of them shriveled, before pouting and huffing as they looked away from each other.

“He was a poopyhead.”

At that, Kenma couldn’t hold back a light chuckle, raising his eyebrow, “...’Poopyhead?’”

**“I apologize!” Kageyama declared. “I swear I will [won’t ever actually] get along with this guy!”**

“He had a name, you know,” Bokuto licked his lips. “That was kinda yikes.”

**Kageyama’s determined expression suddenly turned into mortification again as he was met with the dead left eye of Daichi, whose stoic expression struck the deepest parts of the setter’s soul.**

“Jay-hee-sus,” Kuroo howled. “He ever try taking that stick out of his ass?”

**A tense scowl hit Kageyama, teeth grinding against each other as his shoulders tensed, all while looking into the captain’s eye.**

**Eventually, he scowled, look to the side, and growled, “If I ever had to cooperate with him in a match, I’d rather receive, spike, and toss all by myself.”**

Hinata broke out into a laughing fit, holding his sides while giggling because it hurt too bad for his lungs to work so intensely.

Oikawa laughed just as loudly, pointing at the T.V wildly at Kageyama’s constipated expression.

Even Iwaizumi and Akaashi couldn’t hold back their amusement with a light chuckle or two.

Bokuto and Kuroo made some inside jokes that nobody else could understand, but both of them seemed to get perfectly.

Kenma had to purse his lips to stop his amusement.

Kageyama, once again, donned his graceful, ever so elegant constipated expression once more, only causing Hinata to double over in laughter.

Akaashi raised his eyebrow,  _ So that’s what Hinata was referring to while we were watching the first episode. _

**Hinata, absolutely shocked, gasps, “How could you even say that?!” He puts out his hands in a grand gesture, simply referring to the absolute mess of words Kageyama spit out.**

**To both of their surprise, Daichi heartily laughed, leaning a hand on the doorframe, “Can’t believe you just told me your true feelings...but, I think that’s a good thing.”**

“Never heard him laugh, that’s for sure,” Kuroo leaned his arm on the back of the couch, kicking a leg over the other.

“That’s ‘cause you...what did he say, Bakageyama?” Hinata started innocently, before staring off in forgetfulness.

Kageyama put a hand to his chin, narrowing his eyes as he got the words out slowly, “Pretty sure he said ‘Kuroo takes five years off my lifespan every single damn time he has that idiotic smirk on his face,’ if I remember right.”

At that, Hinata’s eyes glimmer, “That’s right!”

Kenma couldn’t hold back, “Sounds about right. Even seeing Kuroo takes ten years off mine.”

Kuroo gasped dramatically, only to whirl around at Bokuto, who was snickering, “Brokuto!”

“What, KuBro?!” Bokuto bit back, an amused smirk on his face.

**Daichi continued, absentmindedly waving his hand to the side with another hand on his hip, “Still, in volleyball, you can’t hold the ball, you can’t drop the ball, and no player can touch the ball twice in a row.”**

**Hinata, who’d just walked back over, stared on curiously.**

**With a soft smile, he shrugged, “How would you play by yourself?”**

**He closed the doors on the two teens.**

**Kageyama had a slight pout on his face.**

**Hinata stared on in amazement, before turning to the setter, “Lemme ask you something. Are you actually stupid?”**

Hinata opened his mouth, before Kageyama slammed a hand onto the shorter boy’s mouth, “Not a word, dumbass.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, smirking, “Calling someone a dumbass, Kageyama? You sure you can be saying that?”

Akaashi raised an eyebrow, silently willing Iwaizumi to stop,  _ Dude, you’re going to turn into Oikawa with words like that. _

**As the volleyball team continued their practice, Hinata stared on through the bars, hearing Daichi instruct, “Tanaka, block and follow properly.”**

**Hinata mumbled, “The court and ball are right in front of my eyes...and it sucks that I’m not allowed to see it…”**

“Maybe if you didn’t try to protect your pride like that,” Kenma advised.

“Hey, that’s not gonna help me then!” Hinata stammered, embarrassed. “Plus, it was Kageyama! What was I supposed to do?!”

“Just lie down and take defeat,” Oikawa shrugged, smiling coyly. “Winning an argument with a smart person is tough. Winning an argument against an idiot is impossible.”

**At his words, Kageyama stood up with a huff, “I can’t just keep wasting time like this! I have to get them to let me in!”**

**Hinata hopped off the bars, landing softly before standing casually, “You realize we’re teammates yet?”**

**Kageyama scowled, barking, “I’m a force to be reckoned with. That’s enough reason for them to let me in and be on the team.”**

“And then we met the Grand King,” Hinata teased, causing the mentioned setter to beam in pride.

Kenma blinked, “I have never met someone so...arrogant as that, honestly. I’m surprised you weren’t like that when we played that practice game.”

“That’s because he was murderous,” Kuroo snickered. “Remember what happened when he learned you were a setter, Kenma?”

Kenma shuddered.

**Hinata gaped, putting a hand over his mouth, “Exactly what I’d expected from the King --” he interrupted himself. “Wait, what are you planning to do?”**

**Hinata’s eyes dropped, unimpressed as Kageyama put his hands on his hips, “I’ll challenge them to a two-on-two match. If we win, they have to let us in.” He put a hand on his chin. “If we win, we’ll appear friendly no matter if we actually are.”**

**Hinata blinked, pouting, “You’re really planning on challenging our senpais?”**

Kenma pouted. He hated thinking people deserved more or less respect just because they were older. It was something he’d constantly tried to show Hinata, but to him, Shouyou seemed to respect him heavily even despite the age gap.

Iwaizumi groaned, “God, I can’t tell you how big of a head Oikawa got after he learned that Hinata thought he was a better setter than Kageyama.”

“Wait, you do, dumbass?!” Kageyama barked, shooting a glare at his upperclassman, who beamed again.

“Well, he is, isn’t he?” Hinata grunted as Kageyama utilized the Claw™. “Why else would I call him the Grand King?”

Akaashi hummed, “You ever think about...maybe not doing that?” He’d asked solely because he knew what would happen if he met Bokuto and acted like that.

**“W-What if we lose?” Hinata stuttered.**

**Kageyama answered as if it was the most simple fact in the world, “We won’t lose. You have me on your side.”**

Kenma coughed, quietly muttering, “Interhigh-preliminaries.”

Luckily, nobody heard him.

**Hinata gaped, shock and fear in his eyes,** **_Is this guy for real?! Does he really mean what he says?!_ **

“Jesus Christ,” Bokuto gaped. “Aghghghaaashsheeeigh, why don’t you have that confidence?! You’re an awesome setter!”

Akaashi shrugged, “I’m not that great a setter, you know. Pretty sure I’m the worst setter in the group here.”

Kenma quietly piped up, “No, that title belongs to me.”

Kuroo, Bokuto, and Hinata all argued in defense of the setters in question, the two of which had firmly decided that they, in fact, were the worst players in the group.

Of course, it never occurred to them that maybe both of them were also good and not the worst.

**Kageyama’s eyes wandered over to Hinata, “You just need to do the best you can to not get in my way.”**

**Hinata, having heard it, slowly went through the five stages of grief in a flash, before reverting back to the second phase, barking, “Huh?! What person would ever hear that and go, ‘Sure, I’ll do my best!’ and just lie down?”**

**Hinata shook in frustration as Kageyama casually shrugged, “So what do you suggest? Just keep gazing through the window?”**

**Hinata scowled, before taking a deep breath for the frustration to leave.**

**He’d never met anyone in his life as insufferable as the taller man in front of him.**

**“In junior high, I was only in one match. The one against your team.”**

**Hinata explained quietly, meeting Kageyama’s eyes, “We didn’t have enough members to apply for a tournament until then, and I couldn’t have real practice, so I did what I could. In the gym, hallways, random corners…”**

**Kageyama’s eye twitched,** **_Hallways?_ **

Hinata pouted, “I got detention twice because of that.”

Kuroo howled.

Kenma stared at him, a little surprised.

Kageyama shrugged, “Meh.”

**“So when I got to that first tournament, standing in the center of the court,” Hinata licked his lips, not sure how to explain it. “I felt the light on me, and I got worked up, like… ‘Gwaah!’”**

**_Gwah?_ ** **Kageyama repeated, even more confused.**

Hinata blushed furiously, “I-It was really Gwah, though!”

Kenma slightly smiled, “You said that my hair was Gwah, too.”

Oikawa added, “And my sets.”

“I called your sets Fwaoh’s!” Hinata defended, before slapping his hand over his face in embarrassment. He squeaked a little, before groaning timidly.

Kenma and Kageyama somewhat found it cute, but kept their voice tucked in their throats.

“See, Iwa-chan!” Oikawa huffed, crossing his arms.

“Okay, damn, I guess I owe you,” the ace sighed, ruffling through his pocket to pull out a crumpled up dollar bill. “Five dollars, just like I said.”

**“I wanted to stay there, but…” Hinata began, before Kageyama left the impromptu staring contest to look at the sky.**

**“Staying on the court…” he reminisced, a flashback coming to the newspaper article,** **_Men’s Volleyball Prefecture Tournament Kitagawa Daiichi, Bitterly Defeated,_ ** **quickly sifting through his mind. “Only the strong can stay.”**

**He turned to Hinata, eyebrows furrowed, “Well, what are we going to do? If we don’t go in together, they’ll slam the door.”**

**Hinata took a deep breath, “If I can endure not being able to play volleyball for three years…”**

**His voice and face turned silly, the background suddenly becoming incredibly simplistic, “I can endure anything for a little while! No matter how obnoxious you are, I can just avoid seeing you!” Kageyama nodded in agreement until he heard the latter half, in which he contemplated destroying Hinata at that moment.**

**Instead, he opted to go with the classic: “That’s my line, you idiot!”**

“And now here you are,” Kuroo snickered. “Literally glued to each other on the same team.”

“Hey, I’d still prefer to be as far away from him as I can,” Hinata pouted, crossing his arms as he stuck out a tongue at Kageyama.

“And I’d rather die than have to lose because you couldn’t hit a spike again,” Kageyama retorted, fingers wiggling ominously.

Yet, as the two argued, everyone in the room could still see the obvious friendship that they so painfully denied. It’d be so much easier on Daichi if they just got along.

**“Um…” a soft voice interrupted, walking up to the two of them.**

**Sparkles and an angelic harp started playing as Kiyoko appeared on screen.**

Not even Iwaizumi or Akaashi could deny she was probably the prettiest person they’d laid their eyes on.

“Told you,” Kuroo smirked as he nudged Bokuto, who was starstruck himself.

Oikawa pouted, not willing to admit she was probably objectively more attractive than him.

Kenma yawned, “Y’all are weird.”

“What, do you not think she’s pretty?” Kuroo snickered.

“She is, but not monkey-brain pretty,” Kenma clicked his tongue, gesturing to Bokuto, who he’d only seen stare so wildly at a volleyball before.

“Hm,” Kuroo hummed, content with the answer.

~~~

“Kiyoko-san just sneezed!” Tanaka and Nishinoya swooned at the kitten-like sneeze, hearts pounding at their chests.

~~~

“Honestly, I didn’t even realize how pretty she was at the time,” Hinata admitted, sheepishly chuckling. “I just sort of...hated Kageyama more then.”

**“Could you please let me through?” Kiyoko quietly requested, causing the two teens to make way for her, the shorter boy putting his hands at his sides, not knowing what to do.**

**“Kiyoko-san!” Tanaka approached his queen dutifully. “Good to see you! Would you like me to hold the bag for you?!”**

**“No, please. I’ll hold it myself,” she replied with practiced ease.**

**“Kiyoko-san, you’re as beautiful as ever today!”**

Kuroo snickered, followed by Bokuto, who’d recovered from the grave.

Akaashi clicked his tongue, “Yeah, I’d never be able to say that to somebody.”

**Hinata and Kageyama could only watch stupidly as Kiyoko walked away from Tanaka, causing the latter to squeeze himself in delight, “It turns me on when she ignores me.”**

Hinata tilted his head, “What does that mean?”

“Huh?” Kageyama hummed. “Which part, dumbass?”

“What did Tanaka-san mean when Kiyoko ignoring him…’turned him on?’ Does that mean something?” The ginger squawked, completely oblivious.

None of them had the heart to really explain it to him.

“Well, Shrimpy,” Oikawa began, before Iwaizumi shot him with the most aggressive glare he’d ever received from the ace.

“Huh?”

“N-Never mind,” the setter recoiled.

**Sugawara closed the door, a laugh barely contained in his mouth.**

**Hinata exploded, a furious blush hitting his face as he realized what he just saw. Kageyama, however, was too taken aback by the fact that his hair literally seemed to glow from how hot his face was.**

“Was she really that pretty?” Kageyama asked, a little curious. Hinata had always shown that he loves everyone, no matter their race, sex, or anything like that.

“I’m stupid, not blind,” Hinata shrugged, clicking his tongue, before smirking. “But you seem to be both.”

“Hey!”

**After an hour or two, Daichi called out to the team, “Good job, everyone.”**

**Tanaka, holding his water bottle up in the air confidently declared, “They’re probably gonna say, ‘Let us in if we can beat you in a match,’ or something, right?”**

**Sugawara zipped up his jacket. Ennoshita packed his bag, Narita had collapsed against the gym wall in fatigue, and once Sugawara finished, put a hand on his hip.**

**He let out a slightly doubtful smile, chuckling nonetheless, “That’s possible. But all they have to do is show a little remorse and promise to do better, right?”**

**Daichi watched the two converse, before a bellowing duet of voices blasted from outside, “Captain!”**

**The voices were loud enough to catch everyone’s attention, to the point where it woke up Narita from his well-deserved nap.**

“Was that even your loudest?” Kenma muttered, having covered his ears after hearing how loud it was.

He’d been blasted with his own fair share of earrape videos from being on his phone, but this was far louder.

“No,” Hinata admitted, before pursing his lips. “Sorry, Kenma.”

“It’s not your fault, Shouyou,” Kenma blinked, uncovering his ears, the instinct reaction having left his system.

Iwaizumi cringed, “Hinata, have you ever...scared Kageyama?”

Oikawa choked on his drink, as did Kageyama.

Hinata shook his head, “No, why?”

Oikawa choked out through coughs, “Kitten screech.”

Hinata gaped, “I’m sorry, w h a t ? “

Iwaizumi put his hands behind his head, leaning back, “One time, Oikawa tried to scare Kageyama and had to be sent to the nurse to make sure he didn’t have sudden hearing loss.”

“I’m surprised it wasn’t high-pitched enough to not be registered by human ears,” Oikawa pouted.

Hinata pointed at Kageyama and cackled wildly.

**The two of them declared, “Let us challenge you to a match. Us two against you senpais.”**

**Hinata and Kageyama both had their...intimidating stances, trying to take a stronger position than they could ever reasonably take.**

**Tanaka doubled over in laughter, “Are these two for real?” He only got the words out through sheer luck, with Sugawara putting a hand on his head in secondhand embarrassment.**

Kenma and Akaashi fully understood what was going on, feeling the same secondhand embarrassment.

Bokuto smirked, “Hey, they did what they had to do!”

“I’d make them run laps,” Kuroo rolled his eyes, but couldn’t help the amusement off of his face.

“You’d make them run laps anyways.”

Kuroo ignored his best friend in favor of continuing, “But by god, that was amazing. Not even Bokuto and I would try to pull that off.”

Oikawa chuckled, “Man, Shrimpy, Kageyama really convinced you, didn’t he?”

“He said he’d fight me,” Hinata shrugged, a sudden chuckle escaping his lips. “But his fighting stance was literally his hands guarding his gut real, real close.”

“And you just ran, dumbass!”

**Hinata and Kageyama looked at each other, nodding as they whispered, “One..two…”**

**“We’ll prove that we can cooperate at a team!” They declared, refusing to make any sort of eye contact in fear that they’d suddenly damage their morals and honor simply by doing so.**

**Sugawara smiled, almost amazed, “I really heard them say that…”**

**“Man, I can’t say I dislike them, though!” Tanaka belted, snickering loudly.**

**Daichi looked on, face unchanging, “So what if you lose?”**

**Hinata was taken aback, not having considered the possibility.**

“Did you really think you guys were gonna win?” Akaashi wondered.

“I mean, yeah, until I realized how hard it was to work with him,” Hinata admitted, clasping his hands together. “But when I hit his first set, that was...Gwah!”

“I don’t really know what to expect,” Kuroo stretched a little. “Did you think you two were gonna work as a team or something?”

“Nope,” Kageyama instantly said. “We were just gonna endure it and just never cooperate again.”

“Reminds me of Lev literally being impossible to work with,” Kenma muttered, a frustrated expression temporarily gracing his expression.

“Huh? Who’s that?” Hinata squawked, causing Kenma’s shoulders to tense; he hadn’t expected to be heard.

“Oh, nothing, Shouyou…”

**Unlike Hinata, Kageyama took it in stride, “We’ll accept any punishment.”**

“That was mean! You didn’t even tell me you’d say that!” Hinata pouted.

**Daichi turned contemplative, “Hmm…”**

**A shot of more application papers popped up, “Well, there are two more first-year applicants other than you guys. It’ll be a three-on-three match against them.”**

**Hinata seemed shocked, holding a few fingers up as he counted silently while Daichi continued, “We play this game every year to see what the new players are capable of.”**

**Hinata meekly raised a hand, “Wait, how does it become three-on-three, then?”**

“Wait, Chibi-chan,” Kuroo brought up. “Tsukishima and Yamaguchi are also first-years, right?”

Hinata nodded, humming with it, “Yep! Yamaguchi’s awesome!”

“And Tsukishima…?” Kenma hesitantly asked.

Hinata crossed his arms, huffing, “He’s super rude!”

Kuroo gasped dramatically, “Wow, I didn’t know that!”

**“Who’s our other team member?” Hinata asked quietly.**

**Tanaka, who was smirking wildly, instantly started sulking as Daichi turned to him, “Tanaka, you’ll be on their side.”**

**“W-Wait, what?!” The spiker sputtered. “Me?!”**

**“You don’t dislike them, right?”**

“Ooh, gottem,” Bokuto laughed.

Akaashi reminisced, “Remember that time you accidentally spiked the ball into my face because you said you didn’t dislike me but you were curious about what my voice sounded like?”

Bokuto flushed, super embarrassed, “W-Well, I hadn’t heard it! You were silent the entire time, Agghhghghaaugughaoughzshchee!”

Kuroo gaped, jaw pounding the floor with the sheer force with which it dropped, “W h a t ? !”

“Oh, shut it!” Bokuto squeaked, feeling the pressure. “Haven’t you ever done that?”

“I would absolutely not be on the volleyball team if that’s how Kuroo tried getting me to talk,” Kenma corrected. “I would probably not even spend time with him.”

“Says the guy who probably got hit in the face more times than Chibi-chan when they started out,” Kuroo retorted.

“To be fair,” Kenma raised a finger. “It was only for the first week. Then I learned how to set a little better.”

**“B-But that doesn’t mean I wanna play with them!”**

**Daichi gained a solemn look on his face, before he spoke with the most snake-like tone with at least 50 things underneath the way he spoke in a pseudo-disappointed manner, “I see. That’s a shame, too. I thought you were the only one who could discipline these troublemakers.” He sighed dramatically, scratching the back of his head.**

Kenma couldn’t help but smile in reminiscence of his accomplishments, “I’ve done that so many times with Tora I might as well be a god at it.”

**Hearing this, Tanaka’s ears practically hooked on every word the captain said, before proudly puffing out his chest.**

**He smirked, casually yet so humble-but-not-humbly accepting, “Oh, well, I guess it can’t be helped! I’ll do it.”**

**He hopped down the stairs, the jacket coming down with him like a cape, before roughly patting Hinata on the shoulder, “Aren’t you glad?”**

**Hinata could barely stand with the sheer force that Tanaka was putting into the hits.**

“Kenma, you sly cat,” Kuroo joked. “You do this all the time.”

“Yeah, but I usually only do it to get free snacks,” Kenma pointed out, thinking about the times that he convinced Tora to buy the entire team Taiyaki just because “he wasn’t sure if the first-years truly looked up to him yet.”

**Daichi interrupted, “Don’t forget.”**

**The three of them looked up at the captain as he spoke, “If you lose the match, as long as we third-years are here…” Tanaka stepped aside, leaning on the doorframe as Sugawara walked near him. “Kageyama will never play setter.”**

**Kageyama’s face transformed into the equivalent of a human fish.**

“God, imagine if you lost!” Oikawa snickered.

“Oh, shut it.”

“Iwa-chan!” Oikawa whined.

Bokuto whispered to Kuroo, “Starting to think he might be a bit of a masochist.”

Kuroo cringed, uncertain, “I mean, they’re 18...can’t really do much to tell them no, you know?”

Bokuto groaned, stretching as he reached for his glass, “Well, I guess you’re right. Now, c’mon, we got some juice to chug.”

Orange juice shots: 9!

**Hinata tilted his head, slightly confused, “That’s all?”**

“Sometimes, it still doesn’t seem too bad,” Hinata admitted.

Kageyama had to physically restrain himself from being charged with second-degree murder in the near future.

**Daichi explained, “That’s because our team cannot win with a self-centered setter. That’s just a guy who banks on his own skills but loses because of it.”**

**Kageyama grit his teeth.**

**Daichi, who already understood what the message was, laid out some bait, “What’s the matter? We’re not ejecting you from the club. You’d be good in other positions too, wouldn’t you?”**

Kuroo had to hold his sides, which were hurting from how hard he was laughing, “Jesus Christ, he’s so much like a goddamn snake it’s amazing!”

“And yet you seem to anger him most, from what I’ve heard,” Akaashi noted.

“No, no,” Iwaizumi interrupted calmly, feeling a slight sense of familiarity towards the setter that he didn’t expect to feel. “I’m pretty sure that spending a day with Oikawa would be much, much worse.”

Hinata chirped, “What’s so wrong with the Great King?” He tilted his head innocently, causing Kageyama to gag at the naivety.

“I would have chosen to work with you at that moment in time rather than play with him,” Kageyama crossed his arms, huffing. “Especially since he beat us.”

“But doesn’t that mean he’s a really good setter?”

Oikawa, hearing this, absolutely beamed; he wasn’t used to hearing people so actively cheer on his skill other than fangirls.

**Kageyama’s eyes widened, before he declared, furious, “I’m a setter!”**

**Daichi, unfazed, simply advised, “Then win.”**

**He held a finger up, “You’re here because you think you can win by yourself, right?”**

**Hinata pursed his lips, before realizing something, “W-Wait, I’m here too!”**

Hinata pouted, “They all ignored me…”

Kenma nudged him, “I don’t know how, Shou. You’re not easy to forget.”

The slight reassurance had a small smile come onto the middle blocker’s face.

Bokuto cheered enthusiastically, “Plus, you’ve got really cool hair!”

“T-Thank you!”

Hinata wasn’t used to compliments about his hair.

**Daichi steamrolled over the comment, “The game will be Saturday morning.”**

**Tanaka beamed, puffing his chest out again as he reached out to put his hand on Hinata’s shoulder, “So, since we’ve got until then, I, Tanaka-senpai, will teach you two some valuable lessons!”**

**Sugawara yanked him back into the gym before he could do anything stupid.**

**Kiyoko could only watch as the grey-haired setter asked, concerned, “Are we being a little harsh on those guys?”**

**Tanaka agreed, “That’s true.” He had a slightly curious look plastered on his face, scratching his cheek. “You’re acting stricter than usual, Daichi-san. Do you got any special reason in mind?”**

“Yeah, he was super strict then,” Hinata pouted, before brightening. “But he’s super duper awesome and kind now!”

Bokuto hummed, “I dunno, Hinata. He seems like he’s got a constant headache and on his period half the time.”

“What’s a period?”

“U-Uhh--”

Nobody knew how to explain that either.

This time, it was more because they were unaware that a high schooler hadn’t even heard about what a period was in a biological sense. It was more out of shock than anything.

**Outside, Kageyama stomped the dirt a few times, cursing more times than Hinata would’ve liked to hear.**

**The younger boy didn’t even register the taller one’s rage, asking as he sat down on a stair, “What? You mad because you’re gonna eat the penalty?”**

**Hinata yawned, stretching a little bit, “I mean, even if you’re not a setter, you’re good enough to become a regular soon enough.”**

**He held a finger to accentuate his point, “Plus, spikers are cooler than setters! You go whap and pow like that!” He waved his arms in the air cheerfully, nothing but pure joy in his tone.**

Oikawa clicked his tongue to argue, “Setters are super cool, thank you very much!”

Bokuto whined, “But spikers are so awesome!”

Kenma hummed, “And who gets the ball to the spiker to begin with? Almost the setter 100% of the time, you know.”

“But spikers still go whap and pow and that’s super cool, Kenma!” Hinata pouted, making the motions as he always did.

Akaashi had some sort of pride in him as he denied, “But we can get the ball to anyone, not just to wing spikers. We’re the most involved in the game, and you guys just stand to the sideline most of the time. That’s not cool.”

Kuroo hummed, “Okay, but what’s cooler? When someone just tosses a ball to hit boringly, or when someone can blast through a three-person block with one hit? Huh?”

Kageyama smirked, “You have seen how I’ve set the ball to Hinata sometimes. I think that’s pretty cool, isn’t it?”

“That depends on Hinata to make it cool, though,” Bokuto continued the argument. “If nobody could catch up to your sets, then it’s up to the spiker to make your set work, right?”

Their argument was interrupted by the primal rage that came from the T.V.

**“You goddamn idiot!” Kageyama howled, his face scrunched up in ways that shouldn’t be possible from anger alone, picking Hinata up by the collar of his shirt. “The setter’s the team’s control tower! It’s the person who touches the ball the most, the most dominant role! It’s the coolest!”**

Oikawa, never one to miss an opportunity to tease Kageyama, pulled up a picture on his phone. Iwaizumi glanced over to look at it, only to choke on air at the picture, amusement quickly making its way onto his face.

The picture?

A monkey that was clearly howling as it climbed up to a banana.

**Hinata stuttered, not sure where all this emotion came from, “But setter looks really tough to play, and it’s not very flashy…”**

“That’s exactly why it’s such a cool role,” Kenma explained, surprising even Kuroo. “It’s hard to play and it’s not very flashy, so it’s like a sort of ‘working from the shadows’ sort of deal.”

Of course, Kenma didn’t really care for volleyball, or even that he played setter and there was an argument about that.

He just thought that getting the ball as a setter was really easy, since it didn’t take a lot of movement.

**Kageyama scoffed, letting Hinata go, “Have you ever seen a huge tournament live?”**

**“I haven’t.”**

**A shot of a volleyball game on T.V popped up as Kageyama explained, “‘It’s hard to tell from the angles on the T.V, but if you watch from the end side of the court...you can see the setter’s super fast toss perfectly.”**

**He moved his right hand all the way to his left side dramatically, “Boom, from one end of the court to the other. The ball gets past the block, and you think, ‘Can they really return that?’ They can’t. All because of the setter.”**

**Wind blew through Kageyama’s hair as he seemed to calm down, “Sure, spikers are cool, but...the setter tosses the ball to the spiker, tears the blocker’s wall down for them…”**

**Hinata looked on stupidly, before gulping and putting a hand to his chin, “I think I understand why you wanna be a setter…”**

**Hinata spoke a little bit, but his words were drowned out by Kageyama, “Damn it!” He heard Daichi’s words in his mind loud and clear,** **_Kageyama will never be setter._ **

“Hey! I thought you were paying attention to me!” Hinata whined.

“I never do, dumbass,” Kageyama growled at the sudden contact as Hinata kept nudging him.

Bokuto gasped, “Wait, what if Kageyama tried setting like...a ball that sort of spun?! Like it’d stop mid-air! Do you think he could do that?!”

Kenma scrunched up his face, “That sounds super hard to get down.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “It’s Kageyama. He can probably get it to do that somehow, but I don’t know why he’d do that.”

“For fun, of course!”

**“All you’ve gotta do is win, right?” Hinata asked, his features soft like a stuffed animal. “You were full of confidence about taking them on, right?”**

**Kageyama thought,** **_That’s right. I can’t get anxious. I can’t rely on Hinata, but I can send tosses to that second-year guy…_ ** **A grotesque picture of Tanaka popped up, his face as ‘intimidating and impressive’ as ever.**

**He interrupted the conversation with a brand new topic, “We have to do something about that garbage receive of yours by then, got it?!”**

“Wow, great attention span,” Akaashi had a soft smile on his lips as he put a hand on his chin.

**“Garbage?” Hinata pouted, before realizing something. “Wait, how are we gonna practice if we can’t use the gym?”**

“My receive wasn’t that bad!” Hinata claimed.

Kenma denied that, “It’s pretty bad, Shou. It’s probably worse than mine.”

Kuroo snorted, “Probably worse than Lev’s.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, seeming more frustrated than ever, “No, there is literally nobody whose receive is worse than Lev’s. A baby has a better receive than him, I swear.”

Hinata whined, “Who’s this ‘Lev’ guy, Kenma?” His curiosity had only been growing ever since he heard the name, and this was the time for him to find out.

At least, the time in Hinata’s opinion. Not so much in Kenma’s.

“Don’t worry about it, Shouyou.”

**The two were interrupted by a loud, exaggerated cough, followed by Tanaka’s obviously suspicious tone, “Oh, right, morning practice is at 7 in the morning, right?” He held a hand to his mouth, as if he was whispering to someone.**

**It should’ve been noticed by literally anyone still in the gym, but it went under the radar as Sugawara softly answered, “Of course, but why are you asking that all of a sudden?” He sounded exasperated.**

**Tanaka froze up, “U-Uh…” he gained a smirk as his mind seemed to find a target, “Was the vice principal’s wig okay?”**

**“Hey! I told you not to bring that up!”**

“I am so goddamn surprised that none of them noticed him raise his hand like that,” Kuroo mumbled, causing Bokuto to nod along with him.

**The knowledge seemed to dawn upon Hinata and Kageyama at the same time, “Tomorrow…” they both breathlessly whispered,**

**They whirled around, walking away from the gym together yet refusing to make eye contact, “5:00 A.M. Don’t be late.”**

**Hinata responded quickly, “You don’t be late.” They were walking rather aggressively for two teens who had been sitting around for literal hours on end.**

**They walked faster, their pride swelling without a word said between them.**

**They sprinted.**

**Then ran faster than they could sprint, pushing their legs until Kageyama realized, “Crap, my bag! I forgot my bag!”**

**“Hah!”**

**Neither of them noticed Tanaka hearing the two of them agree yet argue on the time that they’d be getting to the gym. He smirked as he eyed the two of them, not knowing how much he’d regret yelling out to them not at all secretly.**

“Did you...like actually wake up then?” Oikawa leaned over to the two first-years, curious.

“I mean, I woke up at 4:00 then. Since it’s a half-hour there, I wanted to beat Kageyama!” Hinata chirped.

Kageyama grumbled, “He did actually get there before me.”

“How,” Kenma deadpanned. It wasn’t a question, but rather just...exasperation. He felt tired just from thinking about having to wake up at 4:00.

**Hinata grunted as he pulled on the door handles, “Just like I was afraid of...it’s locked…”**

“Did you not think to try it out, you know, before Kageyama got there?” Kuroo mused, an amused grin on his face.

“Shush!” Hinata squeaked, embarrassed at the obvious thought process.

**Kageyama took it in stride, “Then find a window that you can enter through.”**

“Does Karasuno just...not lock the windows?” Bokuto scrunched up his face, incredibly confused.

Akaashi hummed, “No, Kageyama just...yeah, he’s Kageyama, I guess.”

**Hinata spluttered, “We’ll get in trouble if we’re caught. Are you stupid?!”**

The room quickly answered in a cacophony of voices, “He clearly is.”

“Shoulda known that, honestly,” Hinata hummed happily as he sent a playful look at the milk addict.

**Another voice came, shivering a little bit, “5:00 A.M sure is rough.” There was a yawn, followed by the condensation from the moisture in his speech.**

**“Tanaka-san?” Hinata cawed as he tilted his head, looking at the yawning bald man.**

**After he yawned, he broke out into a confident smirk, his face more defined than what they’d seen before, “Get out of here before 7.” He held up his hand, the keys dangling off of one of his fingers.**

**Hinata broke out into a bright grin, eyes sparking, “Thanks, Tanaka-san!”**

**Kageyama nodded his gratitude.**

**Tanaka haughtily guffawed, “What a good senpai I am! Call me Tanaka-senpai!”**

Kenma shuddered, “Remember the times I convinced Tora to get the first-years ice cream and getting me taiyaki, Kuroo?”

“Coulda sworn those were the exact words he used,” Kuroo mumbled.

**Kageyama and Hinata instantly chanted, “T-Tanaka-senpai!”**

**The elder teen cackled once more, “Again.”**

**This time, the two boys seemed to compete over who could say it louder, “Tanaka-senpai!”**

“Uh, maybe not flatter him so hard?” Akaashi cringed, a little taken aback at the immense flattery and ego-inflation. He’d seen it too many times in his team.

And of course, he’d been part of that flattery more times than he’d like to admit. For tactical reasons, of course.

**As Tanaka opened the gym doors, Hinata’s mouth grew into a grin. However, Tanaka couldn’t help but look a bit more serious as yesterday’s conversation rang in his ears,** **_That’s true. You’re acting stricter than normal, Daichi._ **

**A quick flash to the past went back to yesterday.**

**_Sugawara hummed, “Do you have some sort of special reason in mind?”_ **

**_Daichi clicked his tongue, “You guys remember their game last year…”_ **

**_A shot of Kageyama yelling at his teammate after a set came into Daichi’s mind, “Kageyama had amazing ability as a junior-high student, but his ability hasn’t yielded any results because nobody can fit it.”_ **

Hinata snorted, “More like he couldn’t fit anyone else.”

“Ah, shut it, dumbass.”

Bokuto cleared his throat, “Uh, don’t you think this is kinda important to listen to if you two didn’t hear it before? Because it...you know, involves you two?”

The pair instantly straightened up, fully alert now.

Kenma mumbled to himself, “And now they’re military soldiers.”

**_Daichi continued, “Plus, he’s self-centered, meaning he’ll definitely get in the way of the team.” He turned back towards Sugawara and Tanaka. “But what’s different than junior high is that Hinata is on the same team as Kageyama.” A flash of the ginger clicked on screen, him still in the air focused on spiking the ball._ **

**_Tanaka tilted his head, confused, “Hinata? I mean, he’s a ball of energy and natural athleticism, but…” his voice trailed off._ **

**_Daichi built off, “Yeah, he’s far removed from his true potential, but he has rare speed and reflexes, and you’ve already seen his jump.”_ **

“Hey!” Hinata pouted. “Far removed? I’m not that bad, am I?!”

Kenma hummed, “I mean, you are pretty bad, Shou.”

Hinata gasped dramatically, a hand on his mouth, “Kenma, you’re supposed to be supporting me!”

“Nope. I’m supposed to be beating you.”

Oikawa hummed, turning to Kageyama, completely serious, “Yo, Tobio-chan. You think I’d work well with Shrimpy over there?”

The raven-haired setter hummed, “If you can stand long enough to have enough energy to deal with him.”

“No, I mean to set to him,” Oikawa hummed. “I think I could probably bring something to him that’d be different than what you give.”

Kageyama scowled, defensive, “And what’s that?”

Oikawa made a few facial expressions as he decided on what he’d say, “I mean...I’m not going to be able to toss precisely like you, but I have a setting style that’d probably adapt to whatever he needs to become better, you know?”

Iwaizumi had to agree, “I think it’d be good for both Hinata and Oikawa, honestly.”

Kuroo smirked, “Maybe we should all see how well we can work with him. If he’s such an odd variable, then everyone working with him’d make us all know a bit more about how to play.”

“Hey!” Hinata squeaked, a little embarrassed about how much everyone was talking about him. “I-I’m not just some tool you guys can use to measure with!”

Kageyama scoffed, “Says the guy who is literally just someone I can set to.”

“Who else can you set to?!”

“Tanaka-san.”

**_Daichi waved his hand with a little sihg, “But he didn’t get the chance to actually play with a setter in junior high.”_ **

**_Sugawara’s eyes slightly widened, indicating that he’d connected the dots._ **

**_Daichi nodded his head, “Since Kageyama needs someone fast enough to hit his toss...they’d be perfect. They’re imperfect and frankly a hindrance on their own right now, but put together…”_ **

**_He had a confident smile on his face as he crossed his arms, “Using that combination is the perfect way to get Karasuno to explosively evolve again.”_ **

Bokuto snickered, “So he’s just using you two to get to nationals or something.”

Oikawa had already taken the bait, “Too bad they didn’t get to nationals either way!”

Iwaizumi growled, “We didn’t get there this time either, idiot.”

He felt the urge to slaughter, but held it back for the sake of a better opportunity in the near future.

**As Tanaka entered the gym, Daichi’s last words from the conversation yesterday still rang in his head,** **_Don’t you agree?_ **

**He turned back towards the duo with a smirk on his face, only to be met with the sight of Kageyama and Hinata fighting over who was going to enter first.**

“I won that, you know,” Hinata declared, causing Kageyama to punch him in the arm. “Ow!”

“That’s what you get for being wrong, dumbass.”

**“I’m gonna be in here first!” Hinata grunted as he pushed on Kageyama’s head.**

**Kageyama grit his teeth, hissing, “Tanaka-san was already in here so he was in here first!”**

**“If that’s what you think, then move!”**

**Tanaka cringed, not sure how to approach the problem, “Hey, there’s not much time!” A loud thud shook the screen, presumably from them pushing each other to the ground.**

**The bald man pinched the bridge of his nose, “These guys have a lot more problems to work on than just teamwork…”**

**As he switched on the light, Hinata got up and walked closer to the line, looking all around him.**

**An awed expression dawned on his face as he quietly whispered, “The Little Giant practiced here, too…”**

**Hinata smiled brightly, a dazzling grin bright enough to blind anyone who looked, “Let’s get started!”**

As the episode rolled to the outro, Hinata grinned again, “It’s so awesome, being able to play in the same gym that he practiced in!”

Kenma rolled his eyes with a light smile, “And you wear the same number that he does.”

Hinata whooped, “Yeah, it’s so cool!”

Kageyama huffed, “Now if only you could actually hit the ball through those gaps like he does.”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “I mean, if he didn’t trust you and opened his eyes for once, he probably could.”

Kuroo hummed, “Y’know, I wonder when you two are gonna meet up.” He pointed to Bokuto and Hinata. “We’ve already met him, but I think you’re the only ones who haven’t.”

“So it has to be sometime in the future,” Akaashi deduced before shrugging. “Jeez, that’s probably gonna take a while.”

Oikawa hummed, content, “Well, let’s get there already if that’s the case!”

Hinata cheered, “Yeah!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeehaw


	4. Episode 3: The Formidable Ally

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hee hoo kageyama boom
> 
> shoutout to the good ol "I don't think you're essential to winning"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi!
> 
> Here's the third episode!
> 
> I actually put a lot of time into this for one reason: I suck at writing tension
> 
> Like, really suck at it.
> 
> But I know that Kageyama's most likely to feel some sort of negative emotion so I really wanted to sort of tackle that, you know?
> 
> And, by god. Online classes, bro. wack.

“Would you two stop wrestling for five minutes?” Iwaizumi sighed, forcefully pulling the two first years apart. “I thought you two were supposed to be friends or something.”

“It’s not my fault he was being a meanie!” Hinata complained, still trying to push himself towards Kageyama only to push the taller boy out of the way again...even though there was no way to push him out of.

“If you didn’t spill my milk, I wouldn’t feel like fighting you!” Kageyama hissed, though he felt himself being snatched back by Kenma.

“You’re being really loud. The both of you,” Kenma calmly complained, but there was sourness on his face, one that was unfamiliar to both Hinata and Kageyama.

Kuroo snickered, “I didn’t know he was this attached to milk, but you never know what people like.”

Bokuto smirked, clicking his tongue, “Okay, tuna boy.”

“That was one time!”

Oikawa chuckled, but got out of his seat. He felt like attacking Kageyama, and it was the prime time to do so.

“Tobio-chan, if you can’t even get along with your teammate, there’s no way you’ll ever come close to me,” the older teen mocked. In an instant, the raven-haired setter whipped his head towards Oikawa with wide eyes, darting back between Oikawa and Hinata, who was still struggling to deal with both Kenma and Iwaizumi’s grasp.

“Tch,” Kageyama huffed, begrudgingly walking over to his seat.

A glint appeared in Oikawa’s eye, “See, I knew you knew I’m better than you!”

**A thud on the gym floor, followed by a slightly high-pitched grunt. As the clock hit another minute, yet another volleyball hit the ground. Hinata followed soon after, his face sliding when his body sort of ragdolled.**

**Kageyama, of course, wasn’t deterred by any type of injury that his teammate would suffer, continuing to lecture, “Your feet stopped short! What happened to your reflexes from yesterday?! You need to focus!”**

**Hinata slowly pushed himself off the ground, complaining, “All I’m doing is receiving…”**

**He pouted, whining, “There’s like, no time left! I wanna spike and jump too!”**

**Tanaka sighed, walking up to the two of them while crossing his arms, “I should give you two a bit of warning...Daichi’s usually gentle, but when he gets angry? He gets...** **_really_ ** **angry.”**

**Hinata and Kageyama’s expressions darkened, simultaneously muttering, “We know.”**

**“That’s exactly why he can’t find out about this morning practice.” His eyes widened for a moment before he tensed up. “N-Not that I’m afraid or anything! Nope. Not at all!” His voice became so much deeper that it was obvious to even Kageyama that he was bullshitting.**

Kenma hummed, “Tora with Yaku.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, but didn’t hide his amusement, “Hey, you’re the only one who can’t say that. I think you’re the only person who he doesn’t murder at the slightest error.”

“Not my fault that you guys keep messing around.”

“Hey! I’m the captain, so why can he do that?!”

Kenma pointed out, “‘Cause he lets you.”

Akaashi smiled lightly, “I mean, he’s right. Besides, it’s like that for Bokuto and I. I don’t know why he doesn’t stop me.” He gestured at his captain, who was still staring excitedly at the T.V like a little child.

Oikawa pouted, complaining, “I dunno why, but it’s I’m the only one who Iwa-chan keeps trying to kill!”

“It’s cause you’re annoying, duh,” Iwaizumi explained.

“Rude!”

**Hinata and Kageyama glanced at each other as Tanaka continued, “Anyways, the three of us are the only ones who know about this morning practice, so --”**

**He was interrupted by another voice, followed by the metal doors opening, “Oh, morning practice? Knew it.” Tanaka whirled around, flabbergasted while Hinata and Kageyama simply turned their heads.**

**“S-Suga-san,” Tanaka stuttered while Hinata tensed up, latching his arms to his sides.**

**The grey-haired setter smiled, waving his hand while his shoes were in the other, “Hi!”**

**Tanaka blinked, gulping, “B-But why...how…”**

**Suga casually explained, “Because it was so obvious that you were acting weird yesterday.” He pointed a finger at the bald man lightheartedly. “You’re always barely on time, but you voluntarily chose to be in charge of the lock. Could’ve at least been a little more inconspicuous, you know.”**

**Tanaka gasped, his voice choked as he stuttered violently, before Suga brushed it off, “Don’t worry, don’t worry, I’m not going to tell Daichi.”**

Oikawa crunched his face up, “Ugh, Mr. Refreshing…”

Akaashi tilted his head, “What do you mean?”

Hinata did the same, “Yeah! What’s so bad about Suga-senpai?” His eyes were wide as he stared at Oikawa, mouth hanging open like a fish’s.

Iwaizumi didn’t even feel too much anger towards Oikawa. He knew exactly what he was talking about, even though the ace wouldn’t voice his own thoughts on the matter.

Kageyama scratched his head, “As a setter...he isn’t super special, honestly, but there’s something else about him that works differently with the team.”

Oikawa nodded, “It’d probably be like that if he was on any team, really.”

Hinata gasped,  _ Maybe Suga-senpai’s like a super secret ninja that can do something super cool! _

**The three other boys relaxed, their tense shoulders loosening as they let out a relieved sigh.**

**The intro rolled.**

“Gotta be real, I have no idea how they even came up with this intro,” Kuroo admitted. “This is some pretty nice music.”

“Dude, is this like an anime or something?” Bokuto gasped, stars in his eyes. “That’d be so cool!”

Hinata pursed his lips, “Would that mean I’m like the main character or something?”

Oikawa made a few facial expressions, the only thing connecting them being uncertainty, “I mean, I guess? I think Kageyama’s the deuteragonist, but it’s weird to think we’re just a story…”

Kenma would have shuddered, but he was subtly nodding his head to the beat of the music, trying to enjoy it but also not being caught.

**As the intro faded off, the clock appeared on screen half an hour later, followed by a guttural war cry.**

**“Come and...get it!” Tanaka grunted ferociously, swinging his hand at the ball with all his might until it crashed onto the other side of the court with a mighty thud.**

Iwaizumi and Bokuto whistled, impressed with the force of the spike.

**In the background, Hinata and Suga were practicing receives, though the former was too concerned with the sight on the court to the point where the ball landed on his head without him even noticing.**

**Sugawara put a hand on his hip, pursing his lips, “Hinata, don’t get distracted right now…” His tone was soft, far different than that of Daichi’s or Kageyama’s.**

**His light lecture was ignored by the first year, who decided to whine, “I wanna hit the ball too! Why don’t you send me a toss?!”**

Kageyama huffed, “Because you suck.”

“I’m not that bad!”

Kenma nodded his head, “You’re pretty bad. But I don’t think bad enough to not be able to toss to.”

Oikawa hummed, “I’ve actually never set a toss to you, Shrimpy. You think we could practice sometime if Kageyama’s feeling like a little kid or something?”

The insult was set aside by Hinata, who brightly grinned, giddy at the thought, “Really? That’d be awesome! I’d love to!”

Instantly, Kageyama felt defensive, but not defensive enough to defend Hinata of all people.

**As Kageyama glanced at Hinata, his eyes narrowed while the latter continued, “Tossing’s your favorite, right? Send me a toss!” He held up his hands in the air in the position, mimicking the setter.**

**Suga bit his lip, not sure how to go about it, “Hey, Hinata…”**

**He still wasn’t heard as Hinata kept going, “Just one, please?!”**

**Kageyama rolled his eyes, before turning back towards the net, despite Tanaka not even standing there anymore. It was as if Hinata wasn’t even worthy of eye contact in the setter’s eyes.**

**“I refuse,” he stated calmly.**

**Hinata gaped at the bluntness, and for good reason.**

**“What is this? Stinginess? Pettiness?” Hinata complained, waving his hands around frantically.**

**Tanaka nodded his agreement, Suga joining in as the former called out, “Yeah, what’s with all this?!”**

**Kageyama grit his teeth, picking up a volleyball and instantly spiking it at Hinata without any sort of warning, who barely had time to even get his hands in a receiving position.**

**“That came at you directly from the front,” Kageyama explained as he watched the ball roll to the side. “Tossing and spiking only happen if there’s a reception...which you’re too slow to do in the first place.”**

Everyone in the room, except Kageyama, had the most confused expression possible on their face. Even Kenma, who was normally the least expressive person in existence (except when it came to Lev, that’s where all levels of annoyance came full force), had absolutely no idea how to connect everything going on.

“But…” Oikawa began, eyes looking for some sort of place to start.

“You didn’t…” Akaashi continued, ready to give up.

“Give him a chance…” Kenma stuck a hand out lightly.

Bokuto kept going, “To prepare…”

Kuroo leaned back, absolutely flabbergasted, “To receive.”

“So? Isn’t that how volleyball games always work? You don’t have time to prepare,” Kageyama defended himself, only causing eyes to widen in absolute shock and awe at the incorrectness.

“Don’t you have...like, a few seconds to see the spiker jump and the setter to toss to him?” Kenma argued, letting out a tired sigh.

“Not with the quick that Hinata and I have,” Kageyama argued back.

“And who can do that in the league?” Kuroo shot. “Literally nobody else. You literally have no other team in Japan who has that weapon, from what we know of. So you have two seconds to prepare.”

“And you didn’t give Hinata even half a second before you spiked it at him,” Iwaizumi finished.

“Hell, even I have time to see the ball go up and receive it,” Kenma explained. “And I hate moving.”

“And that wasn’t even a good angle!” Hinata complained. “That was just straight at my face! What was I supposed to do, receive by punching the ball?” He held his arms in front of his face to accentuate his point.

**“Don’t get cocky,” Kageyama huffed.**

Kenma didn’t even try to hide the way he put a hand on his head, sighing heavily, “My God…”

Hinata gaped, before a smirk came on his face, “Oh, I got cocky?”

Kageyama furiously flushed, “S-Shut it.” He knew that was in good fun, and that the spike was pretty petty. Yeah, it was. He could admit that.

**Hinata, much like everyone in the room at the moment, as absolutely shocked at the gall of both Kageyama’s words and actions, his surprise only growing when his fellow first-year explained, “For the three-on-three match coming up, I’ll make every effort to give Tanaka-san all the tosses. Let him do all the attacking.”**

**“All you’ve gotta do is your best to not get in our way. Got it?”**

**Hinata looked at the ground, frustration already building, “When I receive well enough, will you send me tosses then?”**

**Kageyama looked at one of the volleyballs on the ground, picking it up by palming it with one hand, “I’ll toss to anyone who’s essential to winning.”**

**He casually turned around, stating as if his word was law, “Right now, I don’t think you’re essential to winning.”**

**Hinata looked down again, this time, his hair covering his eyes.**

**Tanaka scoffed, clenching his fist, “Getting gutsy now, aren’t ya…”**

**Sugawara huffed, “What’s it take to send him a few tosses here or there?”**

“Okay,” Oikawa sniffed. “Now that’s just being an asshole. More than I could actually even try to be.”

Bokuto huffed, “Jeez, what’s it take to just...be a decent human being?”

_ A decent human being...  _ Bokuto’s words stung hard, ringing inside Kageyama’s ears.  _ Was I...that much of a prick? _

He gulped, looking into the eyes of his T.V version. He wasn’t that bad, was he? He’d gotten better, right?

He felt a little squelching in the back of his mind, one that he forcefully pushed down, for his own sake.

**Kageyama sighed, walking back over to the volleyball, not even glancing at Hinata’s internal fury bubbling inside him, “It’s getting close to morning practice. We should clean up now, shouldn’t we.” His tone meant it as a statement, not even a suggestion.**

**It was enough to distract the two older boys, who’d taken the realization with a little worry as they hurried to pick everything up.**

**Even as Tanaka clicked his tongue, spouting, “Crap, hurry! We gotta erase all the evidence!” Hinata was left to his thoughts.**

**The echoing voices of Suga faintly urging, “Tanaka, get the mop!” meant nothing to the first-year student, whose shoulders had started shaking, knuckles white in frustration.**

**_Damn it…_ ** **He hissed, the words bouncing around in his head.**

**“Damn it!” He gruffly muttered to himself at various periods in the school day, which seemed to blast by in an instant.**

“To be fair, you didn’t even wanna practice your receives,” Kenma pointed out, causing Hinata to cross his arms and put his nose in the air indignantly.

“Spiking’s so much cooler!” He whined, stretching out a little.

“Yeah, but what do you think of someone like Yaku receiving a spike from Asahi or something like that?” Kenma clicked his tongue, poking Hinata’s cheek lightly.

“Or when Watari receives a spike from even Ushijima?” Iwaizumi continued.

“T-That’s different!” Hinata pouted, embarrassed at the valid point.

“Then isn’t the sort of spiking vs. receiving cool different sorts of cool?” Akaashi joined in, unsure why he was interested, yet soldiered on.

“Yeah, but spiking’s cooler!”

“Spiking’s a  _ different  _ kind of cool.”

Hinata slouched over, pursing his lips, “You guys suck.”

“Just like you in volleyball.”

“Hey!”

**The rest of the school day passed by relatively quickly. A few students were in despair over studying, a few were messing around, and Tanaka fell asleep. Of course, that wasn’t ignored by his classmates, who had opted to use a sharpie for its definite intended purpose.**

**In the middle of lunch, however, Hinata had personally asked Sugawara to help him practice on his receives.**

**The volleyball flew back and forth before a surprised grunt was heard and a few times that the ball hit the ground.**

“Did you...eat lunch?” Kuroo commented. “I mean, you always ate a lot whenever you came to hang out with Kenma…”

“You hung out with Kenma? And how did Kuroo know?” Kageyama squawked, completely unaware of the fact that this happened often.

“Oh, Kuroo wasn’t meant to be there,” Kenma explained. “He just...breaks in sometimes through the vents. I don’t know how.”

Hinata put a hand on his chin, “Whenever it’s lunch break nowadays, I usually just ask Kageyama to practice with me for a little bit. But I don’t think I eat lunch those days, and I probably didn’t eat any lunch then either.”

Oikawa hummed, “I mean, Iwa-chan usually just force-fed me whenever I tried to skip lunch to practice more.”

“I still do, idiot.”

Bokuto groaned, “I couldn’t do that! I love food way too much, but volleyball’s so awesome also!”

**“Hinata,” Sugawara advised as he demonstrated the movements. “Drop your waist, and hit it in the middle of your arms so it goes where your arms are aiming.”**

**“S-Sure,” Hinata gasped, astonished at the supposed revelation.**

**_It was in fact, common sense._ **

**A few seconds later, once Suga had picked up the ball, he hit it towards Hinata, who quickly dropped his waist a little lower to receive properly.**

**He watched the ball fly up into the air, an awed look on his face, as if in disbelief that he actually did it, “Wow, that was a good one!”**

**As the ball went closer to Sugawara, who set it back towards Hinata, he hummed, “Hey, Hinata.”**

**The chain continued as Hinata nodded, “You want me to toss to you, starting tomorrow morning?” The chain broke, as the shock in Hinata caused him to just catch the ball rather than receive it, sending Sugawara a hopeful look.**

**“R-Really?!” He excitedly yipped, bouncing on the balls of his feet.**

“Honestly, I’m surprised Karasuno doesn’t have the dog as a mascot, especially with how much Chibi-chan acts like a puppy or something,” Kuroo remarked.

“Plus, dog vs. cat? It seems more likely,” Kenma agreed, a sour taste in his mouth just from knowing that he agreed with Kuroo.

“Did you seriously just not try to spike to him?” Oikawa muttered, biting his lip. “Not even I did that.”

Another sting, another bruise to Kageyama’s pride. He could take the words of someone who he’d never even spoke to until a few hours ago. He didn’t really care about that, because it was a first impression to know somebody, especially from their past and not from hanging around them.

Hearing it from someone that he both hated and respected was a little different. Kageyama didn’t exactly know how to respond or feel about it, but he knew he didn’t feel good from the remark.

**Sugawara put his hands on his hips with a soft smile, “I’m the official setter of Karasuno, you know. You wanna practice spiking, right?”**

**Hinata nodded vigorously, “Yeah! I love spiking!”**

“See! It’s cooler!” Hinata kept going.

“I thought we were over this,” Kuroo remarked.

“Nothing’s ever over with us,” Kenma blandly stated, as if it was fact.

“Touché.”

**“It feels great when it actually works and it’s just super cool to watch!”**

**Sugawara chuckled, smiling sagely at the boy, “You must have some really important spiking memories.”**

**Hinata held the ball close to his chest with a slightly sad smile, yet there were conflicting feelings in his eyes, “Yeah...all three years in junior high, I didn’t have a setter or anything. It was usually my friends from the basketball and soccer team who’d toss to me.”**

**_A flash came of Izumi continuously setting to Hinata, before profusely apologizing while putting his hands together, “S-Sorry, I didn’t mean for it to go there!”_ **

**Hinata licked his lips, memories of everyone coming back to him, “‘Even after-school club activities. I had first-years, moms, setters from the girl’s team to toss to me.”**

**The smile was wiped off of Hinata’s face, a pained expression on his face.**

**He bit the inside of his cheek, admitting, “They’re all awesome people and we got along...but it always felt like I was alone without a teammate, you know?”**

Oikawa calculatedly gazed at Hinata, eyes narrowing,  _ I get what he’s talking about. Perfectly.  _ After all, he’d felt the same sort of feeling, but for a different reason. He knew that Hinata was just looking for someone to play with him, rather than looking for a way to get better for the sake of others, but without others. He knew what it was like to feel like there wasn’t a team to work with him.

Kageyama did too. But he knew exactly why.  _ It’s cause I did that to them. It’s ‘cause I was an asshole, a bitch. It’s cause I drove them away.  _ He snuck quick glances at Hinata, but never long enough for the ginger to even feel his pair of eyes boring into the back of his head, unlike Oikawa who hadn’t been very subtle about it. He had received weird looks from Iwaizumi, but the latter ended up brushing it off.

**Sugawara stayed silent, the positive expression changed into an open, listening one as he contemplated Hinata’s words while the latter kept venting, “That’s kinda why I was always so curious about what kind of setter I’d be able to play with in high school.”**

**Kageyama’s fierce expression popped up, “You’re lousy as shit.”**

**A sheepish expression came onto Hinata’s countenance as he recalled the main words, “You suck.”**

**He lightly chuckled, “I** **_was_ ** **looking forward to it.”**

**Hinata frowned slightly, eyes cast at the floor, finding his shoes very interesting all of a sudden, “before I got here, I guess.”**

**Sugawara tried to remedy the spiker’s emotions, “Like I said, I’m a setter! I’ll be glad to toss to you!”**

**Hinata smiled brightly again, before he felt sour suddenly, struggling to admit, “That’d be awesome, but if you tossed to me...I kinda feel like I’ve lost.”**

**Sugawara sighed, putting a hand on the back of his head as he chuckled, “Hinata, why do you insist on getting in Kageyama’s face in the first place?”**

**He shrugged, “Personally, I usually avoid confronting guys who are obviously stronger than me.”**

**Hinata pouted; he and Suga both knew that the ginger was the exact opposite.**

“Did it get you that badly?” Kuroo asked bluntly.

“Well, of course it did,” Hinata explained. “I  _ hated  _ Kageyama, man. He was such a meanie!”

Akaashi hummed, “He couldn’t’ve been that bad.”

Hinata shuddered, feeling the impact of all the times Kageyama had mutilated him verbally coming back to him at once, “It was.”

Kageyama bit his lip, trying to contain himself at this point.

He’d changed.

_ I’m different now. I listen to people. _

He learned.

_ I can learn. I can be better. I can… _

_ I can be liked by people. _

His voice caught, not sure how to defend himself.

**Hinata took a breath, opening his mouth momentarily as he carefully chose his words, “At the junior high tournament...he was so much better and taller than me. Just...so strong.”**

**An exaggerated cartoon of a gigantic Kageyama looming over Hinata with monstrous eyes came on screen, with a current version of the ginger looking rather sour, “It was super scary when he stood in front of me.”**

“Is he the big bad wolf?” Kenma deadpanned, glancing at Hinata.

“W-Well, duh,” Hinata stuttered, knowing that his fear back then was 100% irrational.

“That’s not even trying to put up a defense, Shouyou,” Kenma poked the shorter boy’s cheek once again, earning a cry of protest.

**A strong yawn came from the background as the milk addict himself walked up to the vending machine, buying himself a carton of something absolutely nobody in the history of ever could possibly guess while Hinata continued talking, “I...I came to Karasuno because I really wanted to beat him, to be the last one standing, you know?”**

**Suga put a hand on his chin while he stared up at the sky, humming, “I see...but, Hinata, is that really what you want out of volleyball as a whole?”**

**Kageyama, who had finally noticed, decided to listen in.**

Hinata dramatically gasped, “You were eavesdropping?!” It was clear that the middle blocker didn’t really mean anything, even to Kageyama, who was grateful to have a reason to sort of unwind from all the thoughts invading his mind at the moment.

“Well, duh. You were talking about me,” Kageyama muttered, though he could feel just how tense and stiff his voice sounded. There wasn’t that usual bite that there was whenever he talked to Hinata. It was just...stagnant, like anger that’s simmering.

**_He’s practicing through his lunch break?_ ** **Kageyama observed, taking a strong sip of the carton.**

**Hinata sheepishly admitted, “I...I wanna become strong enough to beat him, you know?” Kageyama quirked an eyebrow, curious. “If I can do that...then I’ll be on even ground with any strong opponent. I’d...I wouldn’t be easy to beat in a match.”**

**Sugawara let out a lighthearted laugh, “Oh, I get it now! So, in other words, as far as you know, Kageyama’s the best player in your grade.”**

**Hinata tensed up far more than ever before, wrangling with the ball as he struggled to get the words out, “Y-Yeah…”**

**Suga smiled lightly,** **_He sure doesn’t like admitting it._ **

**“Well, if he used to be your most formidable opponent, now he’s your most formidable ally, wouldn’t you say?”**

**Hinata glanced at the setter with a dumbfounded expression, Kageyama still watching on from a distance.**

**A thought came to Hinata’s head, the echoing, thundering voice of Kageyama raging on,** **_I don’t think you’re essential to winning._ ** **His back was turned to Hinata, even in the mental image he had of the setter.**

Kageyama gulped, his voice quiet as he urgently whispered to Hinata, “Did I really scare you back then?”

Hinata seemed taken aback, mainly at the sudden mood change that he saw in his setter; he may have been naive and always super happy, but he could still read the room, and this time, the room was his best friend.

“Uh...yes and no?” Hinata answered like a question, knowing how weak the response sounded. “You were more...intimidating, like I wasn’t worthy of standing next to you on the bus or something.”

“Guess that’s what being a king’s like,” Oikawa remarked mockingly, before Iwaizumi smacked the back of his head.

Kuroo and Bokuto clicked their tongues, content to add an eighth drink to the count.

“Shut it,” Kageyama hissed, venom in his tone. He didn’t mean for the anger to leak out, but he didn’t know where else to direct the energy. He genuinely didn’t think anyone else in the room deserved it at the moment and he knew that Oikawa was trying to get a reaction out of him.

“Jeez, learn to take a hint, Tyrant,” Oikawa smirked, only causing Kageyama to almost flare up anymore.

“Shhhh!” Hinata urged, putting a finger to the setter’s lips. “I’m trying to watch!”

Kageyama met Oikawa’s eyes, his glare simply speaking volumes of  _ This isn’t over yet. _

**The rest of the school day passed relatively quickly, nothing but the usual Hinata failing his classes, Kageyama drinking his milk, and the upperclassmen dueling with Japanese school. They often wondered if American school could ever possibly be better than the hell they went through.**

**The moment the bell rung, Hinata burst out of class, already sprinting towards the gym.**

**Even as he heard the chants from the gym as they stretched, it didn’t seem to register in his mind that they weren’t allowed in there.**

**“Oy, dumbass,” he heard the oh-so-familiar voice of the man he hated most in the world at the moment, “I found us a place to practice since we can’t handle the ball freely in there.**

**Hinata gasped lightly, before smiling, “Nice job, Kageyama!”**

**“Don’t be condescending.”**

Kageyama could practically feel the remark on the tip of Kenma’s tongue, “What now?”

Kenma rocked his head back and forth lightly. It wasn’t often that he’d let a remark or two out, but he was already close to the first-year duo on Karasuno. He figured he could afford it.

“Nothing. Just thought you could stand to realize the pot calling the kettle black.”

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrow, “I don’t know what that means, but I’m just gonna assume it’s an insult.”

“Fine by me.”

**“D’ya have to be mad at every little thing?”**

**As Hinata continued to follow the raven-haired setter, a tuft of blonde hair paired with headphones accompanied by a bunch of extremely dark-green hair passed by, seeming to ignore the sounds they were hearing.**

As the commercial break ran, Hinata gasped, “Yamaguchi and Stingyshima!”

Kuroo smirked, “God, if only the bean stalk could block. Be so much easier with an actual middle blocker on Karasuno’s team, at least for them.”

Hinata pouted, “I can block, though!”

Bokuto snorted, “Bro, gotta say, you can jump, but I think even Kenma could spike over you if he really tried.”

“Probably not,” Kenma disagreed.

“How about...Yamaguchi?” Akaashi tentatively asked, not sure if he properly remembered the boy’s name. “What’s he like?”

“Oh, he’s really good at like pinch serving! He’s super nice, too!” Hinata chirped, clasping his hands together with a grin on his face.

Kuroo wrinkled his nose, “So how is he friends with Tsukishima?”

Kageyama stayed silent, not sure how to add to the conversation.

Kenma muttered, “How am I friends with you?”

Kuroo gasped dramatically, “Rude! ‘Twas thee who betrayed I!”

“I will send you forthwith to the hell from which thy came if you keep talking like that or something.”

“I...don’t know,” Hinata mumbled sheepishly. “Usually, they’re both together all the time, so I don’t really get too many chances to talk with Yamaguchi on his own…”

**As the clock hit 6:00, the normal time that practice ended, Tanaka and Sugawara simply couldn’t help but let out a satisfied yawn, content with how they performed today.**

**“You guys sound sleepy,” Daichi casually remarked as he pushed the cart, catching both of them off guard as they froze.**

**Quickly turning around, the two quickly tried to appear as casual as possible.**

**It didn’t look like they were casual in the slightest.**

**“O-Oh, you know, I was just up really late studying!” Suga dismissed a little too quickly to sound normal.**

**“S-Same, I was stud--”**

**“Nobody’d buy that from you!” Sugawara furiously whispered to Tanaka, before a pair of footsteps came.**

**“Pardon,” Tsukishima’s voice entered the scene.**

Hinata cringed, “Pardon? What is he? A royal knight or something?”

Kenma rolled his eyes, “I don’t get the point of acting super formal towards other people. It sucks.”

“Then why don’t you let Lev just call you Kenma?” Kuroo smirked.

“Lev is unworthy of my respect.”

Hinata bit his lip,  _ Jeez, I wanna meet who this guy is already! _

**“Oh, you guys made it,” Daichi welcomed with a light smile before introducing them. “These are the other first-year students who’ll be joining us.”**

**The other second-years couldn’t help but stare, “‘Wow...they’re pretty tall, don’t you think?”**

**Daichi continued to welcome them before explaining in the background, “I know new club members were supposed to be introduced around next week, but we have a match this Saturday. We’ve decided that’s where we’re sort of going to test you guys.”**

**“Pleased to meet you,” Tsukishima’s voice stated blandly while Yamaguchi actually bowed and sounded genuine.**

“I feel like I’d somewhat get along with Tsukishima. He’s quiet,” Kenma observed.

“Just wait ‘till you see him tease us,” Hinata pursed his lips, crossing his arms. “That’s the loudest I’ve ever heard a voice just blast inside of me.”

**Back outside, while the sun was only beginning to set, Kageyama’s barks could be heard over the voices of the soccer team still running laps around the field, “Don’t just use your hands, numbnuts! Use your feet!”**

**As he spiked another ball at Hinata, who once again poorly received it, Kageyama hissed, “You need to concentrate already!”**

**Hinata sent a brief glare at the boy before walking over to pick up the ball, “I know, jeez.”**

**When he walked over to the ball, his voice took a lighter tone, “We’ll win this Saturday, we’ll be allowed into the gym, and we’re going to be on the team.”**

**As he finished the statement, he turned around to Kageyama, and with the most shit-eating sort of tone a boy like Hinata could possibly produce, noted, “But you, on the other hand, can’t even play setter if we lose.”**

**Kageyama wildly pointed out a finger, “If you know that, then concentrate!”**

“Kinda not in debt to you, you know,” Hinata stuck out his tongue playfully, only to receive the same response from Kageyama, who also stuck out his tongue at Hinata.

“You are now, at least. You woulda sucked without me.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh.”

“NUH-UH!”

“YUH-HUH!”

“Are we just going to let this happen?’ Akaashi wondered.

“Usually ends in a few minutes,” Kuroo explained. “Just give it...thirty seconds, maybe? I think they’ll be quiet by then.”

“As if,” Oikawa scoffed. “Like Shrimpy’s ever been quiet in his whole life.”

**As the two got back into position, a few noises were heard of the ball flying around a little bit before Kageyama messed up a spike and somehow, in some way, missed Hinata entirely and sent it into the tree.**

**Of course, he still made Hinata get up and get it anyways.**

**“I told you to take it easy when we practice outside…”**

**“All you gotta do is not suck at receiving. Not that hard, right?”**

“You know that I’m not your slave, right?” Hinata deadpanned towards Kageyama.

“Kinky,” Bokuto whispered to Kuroo, who smacked him on the arm.

“I know you aren’t, fuck off,” Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows.

Hinata backed off, choosing to avoid the conflict this time, “...fine…” his tone was quieter, so unlike Hinata that Kageyama could only feel guilty about what he said.

The orange-haired kid knew something was off...he just couldn’t place what.

Kageyama, on the other hand, felt the guilt eating away at him piece by piece, but also couldn’t find it in him to apologize and swallow his pride for the time being.

**“Whatever, King,” Hinata muttered under his breath, a little fed up with the entire situation. Kageyama stopped prodding at the ball with a branch he found, scowling.**

**“Shut it,” he demanded, walking away as the ball fell on Hinata’s head before the shorter boy leaped down.**

**_What’s the matter with him?_ ** **Hinata wondered with a sour expression on his face.** **_He gets mad every time I call him that. It’s a cool nickname, you know._ **

“That's what we call bitch juice,” Oikawa joked.

“Something you drink on the regular,” Iwaizumi huffed.

“Rude, Iwa-chan!”

Kageyama couldn’t even take the insult this time to heart; he was simply too busy trying to figure out what the hell ‘bitch juice’ was supposed to be, and why it was available for sale in the first place. Sounded like it was a piss-poor product to him, at least.

**_I wonder if I could have a cool nickname, too!_ ** **Hinata mused with a hand on his chin.** **_Something like the Little Giant!_ **

“Wow, who could’ve guessed that that’s where the name was going to go,” Kuroo mused.

**As Hinata wracked his mind over what could only be described as the stupidest nicknames in existence, Kageyama interrupted his thought process, “Oy, c’mon, you gotta focus again.”**

**Hinata didn’t even pay mind to his harsh words as he wondered, “Hm, what’ll the other first-years be like? They’ve gotta be pretty good to be playing with our captain, right?”**

**Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows, only holding the volleyball up, “Who cares what they’re like? All we have to do is beat them.”**

“Okay, I’ll admit, I suck at small talk,” Kageyama huffed, begrudgingly getting it out of the way; he already knew that he’d be made fun of, and he didn’t feel like having it happen again. He could tolerate getting annoyed at Oikawa, because that was constant. Getting angry at someone like Akaashi or Iwaizumi who really didn’t do anything to warrant getting angry at was what he didn’t want to do, even if his pride wouldn’t let him admit that he cared.

**“Hey, don’t click your tongue at me!” Hinata pouted, before smiling brightly while Kageyama walked a few feet away, the older boy getting into a receiving position. “Let’s do this!”**

**The ball hit his face again.**

“How was he going to improve like that?” Kenma muttered quietly, but his point was indirect enough to where Hinata felt like asking.

Of course, for Kenma, that was just a slight nudge.

“I mean...shouldn’t he be giving you something fair to receive instead of just spiking it at your face? Spikes come down diagonally, not horizontally, unless I’m really stupid or something.”

Hinata smirked proudly at Kageyama, who only scowled at the first-year and his friend.

Hinata pouted, “Kageyama, what’s your problem?”

It was practically impossible for Kageyama to really get something by Hinata. The boy had practically learned through sheer positivity how to make people happy just by existing, and he loved making people happy. Happy people around him meant that he was happy, after all.

That’s why Kageyama knew his act wouldn’t get by him for long.

Hinata looking at Kageyama at the moment made the latter felt as if the entirety of Nekoma was staring at him, but instead, boring holes into his soul, seeing his true emotion.

“...”

“Well?”

After a few seconds of silence, Kageyama muttered, “It’s nothing.”

It was a poor answer that he knew Hinata wouldn’t take, but it was the best that he could come up with.

Hinata crossed his arms, but not angrily. He made a mental note to bring it up later. 

**“You know you don’t receive with your face, right?” Kageyama deadpanned to Hinata who had been knocked to the ground from the headshot.**

**As some more time passed, it had gotten to the end of practice, where Suga and Tanaka had carried one of the volleyball poles into storage, the latter having annoyance painted all over him.**

**“There’s something that I don’t like about those first-years,” Tanaka growled, eliciting a laugh from Suga.**

**“You don’t like anyone that you meet for the first time, you know. Kinda your personality, right?”**

**Tanaka sweat a little bit, “My personality?” Before he was interrupted by Suga suddenly stopping, as if deep in thought.**

**“But those guys were pretty above expectations, especially just for first-years, you know,” Suga hummed, before turning his head to face Tanaka. “Are you going to be okay on the math on Saturday?”**

**Tanaka tried to beam, “Of course! I’m on the team, after all!”**

Oikawa hummed, “Really? String bean above expectations? I don’t really see it.”

“That’s just ‘cause of your insane serves,” Hinata pouted. “Why did you have to serve like...exclusively to me and Tsukishima in the first place?”

“I mean, both of you kind of suck at defense,” Kuroo explained.

“Weird, especially since you’re both middle blockers,” Iwaizumi noted. “But, oddly enough, I noted more of a presence from you when you were blocking. Tsukishima seemed like he was just blocking for the sake of blocking, rather than anything else.”

Hinata groaned loudly, “That’s ‘cause he keeps acting like he hates volleyball so much, but I feel like he just really likes it deep down, you know?!”

Kuroo snorted, “Reminds me of Kenma a little bit. Claims to be apathetic and then really hates losing either way.”

“That’s ‘cause losing just sucks in general, not just in volleyball,” Kenma defended.

**Suga clicked his tongue, “That’s true. There’s Kageyama, too.”**

**The grey-haired setter wondered out loud, “He’s gotta have mellowed out since junior high…”**

**Tanaka balked at that, “There’s no way. The guy’s cocky as shit.”**

**“Well…”**

Hinata gripped Kageyama’s forearm, already noticing the setter tense up.

It didn’t do much to calm his pounding nerves, but it helped ground him and bring him a little bit back to reality.

Luckily, the motion wasn’t sudden enough to be noticed by anyone else.

Hinata knew Kageyama was still grateful for that, even if he never admitted to it.

**“In junior high, it was like he had this sort of...unwavering confidence.”’**

“So does Ushiwaka,” Oikawa complained.

“And so do you, idiot,” Iwaizumi threatened the setter by cracking his knuckles, causing Oikawa to recoil a little bit.

**“Like he was this some sort of unbeatable god or something.”**

**Tanaka scoffed, “Still cocky as hell, though.”**

**Sugawara chuckled, “Sorry, sorry, shouldn’t have asked you that.”’**

Tanaka’s words rang through Kageyama’s head, Hinata’s surprisingly strong grip the only thing keeping him from not realizing that he was in a room with other people.

_ Does he still think that of me? _

**Sugawara left the storage room with a mop without another word, leaving a confused Tanaka.**

**As the conversation had finished up, outside, Hinata and Kageyama were still practicing, the only light letting them see clearly being the tstreet light a few feet away from the fence.**

**When Hinata dove to (and failed to succeed to) receive the ball, he hit the ground, but tossed the ball to Kageyama after only a few moments.**

**Surprising Kageyama, who had broken a sweat despite his minimal movement, Hinata’s eyes were filled with a certain flame that he couldn’t quite specify the feel of, “One more.”**

**Kageyama, only riled up by the flame, nodded sternly, “Here goes…” they’d moved to another practice, mainly getting to the ball wherever it went.**

**“Right…” Kageyama decided. “There.”**

**In a flash, Hinata appeared right under the ball, ready to get it before a hand popped out seemingly out of nowhere above Hinata, casually catching the ball.**

**What could only be described as one of the most condescending voices in history sneered, “Wow, they’re really doing this outside.”**

**The arm pulled back, the boy holding the ball revealed to be a tall, lanky blonde teen wearing glasses and a pair of headphones around his neck, “You two the first-years that caused up some trouble on the first day?”**

**The shorter guy next to him stepped out a little more so he could be seen, noting “T-shirts at this time? Real chilly, don’t you think?”**

Kuroo straightened up, a glint in his eyes, “Well, well, well, Tsukki’s here now.”

Bokuto couldn’t place why, but he felt a similar interest to the provoking teen, “What’s the deal with those two?”

Kuroo smirked, “Patience, Bokuto. You’ll see soon enough.”

Kageyama lightly elbowed Hinata, “I...I need to go to the bathroom.” His tone was stiff, his composition shaking slightly.

Hinata could hear it in the voice crack.

Kenma could too.

Kenma bit the inside of his cheek, “Shou, pause real quick.”

Hinata nodded to the rest of the room as Kageyama got up, gesturing over to the setter as he paused the T.V.

~~~

Crap.

Crap.

Crap.

Jesus Christ, why did they have to show this?!

Why did...why did  _ he  _ have to show this?

I splash the water on my face to calm me down, the cool feeling of the water a shock to me. It’s nice. It brings me back down to earth.

I put a hand on my chest, and I don’t even need the hand there to feel the sheer pounding on it. I steel myself, looking into the mirror. Great. It’s absolutely clear.

I can make it through this episode.

_ You’re just postponing the inevitable. _

Duh.

I don’t need myself to tell me that.

~~~

“Tobio-chan, you’re back!” Oikawa sang in a mocking tone. “What a...delight.”

Kageyama scowled at his senior, “Sure wish I could feel delight while looking at you.”

Oikawa took it in stride, sticking out his tongue while doing the peace sign with his fingers.

**“Isn’t it time for primary school boys to go home already? You shouldn’t be out so late, you know…” he advised, his tone condescending once more. “Strangers might come out the dark, monsters come to snatch you away in the night!”**

**Hinata felt a murderous urge surge through him, a vein popping out on his forehead, “Who are you guys, anyways?!”**

**He was interrupted by Kageyama walking from behind, “You two the other first-years joining the club?”**

**Hinata humphed, “I was talkin’ here!”**

**Kageyama didn’t even notice him speak as he asked, “You, how tall are you?” while making direct contact with Tsukishima.**

**Yamaguchi popped out, seemingly out of nowhere for the second time in a short time span, “Tsukki’s 188 centimeters! He’l be 190 soon.” His tone was cheery and welcoming, a stark contrast from the teen he stood with.**

**Hinata gasped in disbelief, “190?!” He could barely even imagine reaching 175, let alone 190.**

**“What are you bragging about, Yamaguchi?” Tsukishima tiredly shut him down.**

**Yamaguchi took it in stride, “Sorry, Tsukki!”**

“Oh, he seems nice,” Akaashi remarked.

Kuroo recoiled, “Tsukki?”

Akaashi shook his head, raising an eyebrow, “As if. You probably haven’t seen him smile ever since you met him.”

“Can’t disagree with you there.”

**“Anyways,” Tsukishima continued, donning an unfamiliar welcoming attitude, “You’re Kageyama of Kitagawa Daiichi, aren’t you?”**

**Kageyama slightly narrowed his eyes, softly nudging Hinata out of the way as Tsukishima wondered out loud, “What’s an elite like you doing at Karasuno?”**

**Hinata scowled, suddenly barking, “Hey, we won’t lose this Saturday, you hear me?”**

**Tsukishima hummed quietly, as if pondering what to do, before clicking his tongue, “Oh, I see now.”**

**His bluntness and calmness was the exact opposite of what Hinata expected, his eyes suddenly losing their fire only to be replaced by confusion.**

“Saltyshima’s so weird!” Hinata groaned. “He’s like super good at volleyball and super tall but acts like he hates it! But he likes it, I can just feel it!”

“Well, he certainly doesn’t like you,” Kenma snorted.

“H-Hey! Just ‘cause it’s true doesn’t mean you have to say it!”

**Tsukishima casually tossed the ball in the air a few times before explaining, “It’ll be an important match for you two, but it won’t matter to me in the slightest.”**

Oikawa pursed his lips, followed by Bokuto.

The former spoke first, “If you’re going to be such an ass about it, why are you even in volleyball?”

“Could say the same about you, idiot,” Iwaizumi remarked.

Oikawa shrugged off the insult, having become practically immune, “Like...dude, at least pretend to care.”

Bokuto nodded, somewhat disapproving, “Doesn’t seem like the type of player you’d see on the court or even working with somebody as a teammate.”

**Tsukishima continued, yawning as he offered, “I’m not worried about winning or losing, so if you two really need to win…”**

Hinata gagged, causing Kenma to look a bit concerned, “Something wrong, Shou?”

Hinata only pointed a finger at the T.V, a salty look in his eyes.

**He donned the most condescending tone possible and smiled in the most shit-eating way, “I can go easy on you two if you like.”**

**Hinata quickly let his frustration out, howling like a wolf, “What?!”**

**Kageyama, instead, buried the frustration in his eyes, tilting his head intimidatingly, though his halfway-pursed lips took away from the anger, “Whether you go easy or give it your all, the bottom line is that I’ll win.”**

**Hinata interrupted him, “You mean ‘we.’”**

“Mm,” Kageyama huffed. “Think I still might mean that I’ll win depending on whether or not you can jump.”

Hinata gasped overdramatically.

**Tsukishima chuckled, “Wow, what confidence! Though, didn’t really know what else to expect of...the ‘King,’ you know?”**

**Kageyama bit the inside of his cheek, “Don’t call me that.”**

**“So the rumor’s true?” Tsukishima hummed.**

**Kageyama stayed silent, though the fury was evident on his face, prompting the taller boy to continue, “Rumor has it that you go wild whenever someone calls you the ‘King of the Court.’ Now, what’s so wrong about that? Pretty cool nickname.”**

Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows, “He’s got Kageyama right where he wants him,” looking at how Kageyama was literally shaking on the T.V in an attempt not to murder Tsukishima.

It was an uncharacteristically serious expression on Kuroo, one that told Bokuto everything he needed to know, “He’s trying to get him to blow.”

They glanced over at Kageyama, who’d clearly been shaken up by the sudden exposure.

They’d also noticed Kenma, who’d been taking glances at Kageyama, trying to decide on the moment to strike. They just didn’t know what the strike was going to be.

Akaashi had kept his eyes on the T.V, but he too was wondering,  _ Do we need to take a break or something? _

Oikawa clicked his tongue loudly, never one to hold back his thoughts, “Yo, Tobio-chan, you need water or something?”

He looked over his junior very carefully, and saw how stiff he was. The straight posture, the somewhat subtle movement of his knees, the way he fidgeted with his hands, and especially his eyes.

Kageyama dryly scoffed, “Since when did you ever look over me?”

Hinata raised an eyebrow, “Bakayama, that’s not an answer to the question.”

Kageyama glared at Hinata, who didn’t back down, “Just fast forward this part. It doesn’t matter anyways.” He huffed, not caring about the scene he just made.

Kenma kept his mouth shut, leaving the issue be for the moment.

Kuroo and Bokuto watched on, making sure to keep watch.

As the T.V version of Hinata thought,  **_Well, this is out of my hands,_ ** Hinata interrupted it by pausing and pressing the fast forward button on the T.V.

Instantly, a loud static noise blasted, causing them to jump before covering the ears, waiting a few seconds before it died down and a few lines of text rolled.

**Yo. So, I know you’re trying to fast-forward through this stuff, but I gotta say something. My bad for not putting this in the letter, but I ran out of room.**

**Unless it’s the commercial break, the part’s gotta play. My bad.**

“And now the guy who brought us here’s being a douche?” Kageyama scoffed.

“He’s probably not even here to override it,” Hinata deduced, a rare moment of him using his brain.

Kenma shot over a sympathetic glance at Kageyama, “Sorry for it.”

Kageyama felt his voice caught in his throat.

Hinata nodded, solemnly speaking, “He says thanks.”

He hesitantly pressed the ‘play button.’

**“So what do you want,” Kageyama muttered, his question coming out more like a statement, a demand, almost.**

**Tsukishima ignored it, “I watched the prefecture preliminary games. Had some egocentric tossing, you know.”**

**Kageyama clenched his hands into even tighter fists, his knuckles white.”**

**“Man, I don’t know how your teammates even tolerated that, because I sure couldn’t,” the tall boy lightheartedly spoke, before pretending to realize something. “Oh! I guess that’s kind of why it happened. You know, ‘cause they couldn’t tolerate it anymore, either.”**

**Kageyama’s eyes widened, a slight flash of a younger Kageyama tossing only for nobody to go for it appearing in his mind.**

**In a flash, Kageyama’s hand had already reached around to grab Tsukishima’s collar, surprising everyone else there except Tsukishima himself, who only looked on with an extremely smug, satisfied smirk.**

“Okay, what the fuck?” Akaashi mumbled under his breath, but loud enough for Kageyama to clench his fists in real life. “Who tries to do that sort of thing to their teammate?” The younger setter had only heard the first half before seeing red.

“I know I was an asshole!” Kageyama barked suddenly, catching most of them off guard. “You don’t need to look at me like I was, because I already know!”

Hinata paused it quickly, “Who looked at you?”

“Are you an idiot?!” Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows, catching Hinata off guard as well; he’d been aware of the situation, but was so used to the banter that they had that he just wasn’t used to hearing Kageyama be sincere in his insults again. “Everyone!”

Hinata was shocked for a moment, before retaliating, “Are you sure you aren’t just blind and thinking it’s happening?!”

Oikawa scoffed, clicking his tongue again, “Why’d you think I asked if you needed water? ‘Cause I thought you were an asshole in the past? Don’t need to know that to tell you.”

“Not helping,” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, smacking Oikawa on the back of the head.

Kuroo and Bokuto didn’t take a sip. Not even a single drop.

“You’re one to talk,” Kageyama seethed.

“Who’s the one getting angry here?” Kenma suddenly interrupted, changing the pace of the entire conversation. “Who’s the one yelling and bursting out at people who aren’t angry at them?” His words were practically freezing, his tone reaching the level of Bose-Einstein condensate.

Kageyama shut up for a moment, his rage going towards Kenma for a moment before the words registered, rendering the raven-haired setter quiet, giving the cat the perfect opportunity.

“Unless I’m mistaken, I told you an episode or two ago that we don’t care that you were an asshole in the past,” he explained calmly and quietly. “And unless I’m mistaken, that statement still holds up.” He poked Kageyama in the chest, his understanding of the situation overriding his hatred of physical contact. “And you’re the one who’s clearly caring the most about something in the past.”

Kageyama’s mouth opened, but he couldn’t find time to rebut as Kenma finished, “Drop it already. Hinata asked if you needed a break. He tried to fast forward for you. Oikawa asked if you needed water. Kuroo and Bokuto’ve been giving you worried looks.”

The last two mentioned spared glances towards each other, opening their mouths, “How did you--”

“You were obvious,” Kenma hummed before continuing. “Would we do that if we hated you?”

He raised an eyebrow, leaning back in his seat, satisfied with never speaking in front of other people ever again.

Hinata bit the inside of his cheek, before quietly grabbing Kageyama’s forearm, “We’re on your side. Okay?”

Kageyama didn’t seem convinced.

Hinata huffed, before smiling softly, “Besides, you’ll always have someone to spike to you now, right?” He poked Kageyama’s cheek; he was glad that he could still act happy towards Kageyama even with the current tension, which was slowly draining.

It took a few seconds, “Fine. You’re right.”

“Didn’t think I’d ever hear that out of you!”

“Oh, hush, dumbass.”

“Uh,” Oikawa raised his hand. “You kinda spilled some water.”

“Oh. I’ll get that...wait, you did that to get me off my anger!”

“Worked, didn’t it!” Oikawa sang, satisfied.

“Shut it, Shittykawa.”

**Hinata looked on with curiosity and worry,** **_What’s going on? I don’t know what they’re talking about, but why is he holding back towards this creepy guy?_ ** **He spared Kageyama a worried glance.**

Kuroo took the opportunity to try to break the sudden tension, noticing that nobody wanted to speak up, “I mean...Tsukki is kind of creepy.”

Hinata shuddered, “Especially during actual matches.”

**_Tell him off like you always would. Just… say something!_ **

**Kageyama walked away, darkly muttering, “Let’s go.”**

**As Tsukishima walked the other direction, satisfied, he couldn’t help but get one more quip in, “Wow, running away?”**

**Hinata’s eyes, as if following Tsukishima like Aone’s block, looked fierce as the taller boy hummed, “I guess that the King’s not all that he’s cracked up to be. Maybe I’ll win against him this Saturday, too.”**

**He tossed the ball up in the air dismissively, only for a hand to reach high above where he tossed it, pulling the ball close to the owner’s chest.**

**Tsukishima’s confident expression turned to complete shock as Hinata landed silently, with grace, as he defended, “Shut up with all this ‘King’ crap. I’m here, too!” He looked up at Tsukishima, who was taken aback.**

“See!” Hinata hummed contentedly as he looked as his teammate. “How can you worry about that stuff when I’m gonna beat you soon!”

Kageyama bit back a smirk, choosing to ruffle Hinata’s head instead, “You’re nowhere near me yet.”

Hinata still noticed how much he was being treated like fine china, as if the setter was afraid that he’d accidentally hurt the younger boy.

Oikawa joined in, recognizing the difference between being helpful and being an asshole, “And guess who you gotta beat still!”

This time, Kageyama looked back, but without animosity, “I’ll be there in a week or two. Don’t worry.”

There was confidence in his tone.

There wasn’t arrogance.

Oikawa smirked,  _ There we go, Tobio-chan. _

His smirk turned to a howl of pain as he felt a hand make contact with his neck this time.

**“I’ll spike the ball over your head this match!”**

**Tsukishima narrowed his eyes, a sudden emotion in his normally dull expression, “Huh?”**

**Hinata backed off instantly, feeling some really low-quality vibes, “Huh? You wanna fight or something?”**

Kenma lightly smiled, “I think you’d have to jump any time you’d want to hit him in the face, Shou.”

Hinata pouted.

**It only took a few seconds for Tsukishima to take a deep breath, wiping the intensity out of his face, “Let’s not get so angry. Let’s just do this for fun. It’s just a club, after all.”**

Bokuto and Oikawa spit out their water, staining the carpet.

Before Akaashi, Kuroo, or Iwaizumi could remark on it, Hinata snickered, “I know what you mean. He’s like that.”

Kageyama groaned, “He says that so much…”

Bokuto’s mouth dropped, incredulous, “How can you just...say that?!”

Oikawa sputtered, “I know he’s an ass, but that’s just...ew!”

Hinata nodded fervently in agreement.

**“What do you mean ‘only,’ huh?” Hinata provoked.**

**Tsukishima rolled his eyes, “I mean ‘literally.’ Now, I’m done here. See you.”**

**“Wait a minute, you two never even told us who you are!” Hinata prompted angrily.**

**Tsukishima stopped suddenly, “Tsukishima Kei. Class 1-4.”**

**Like a ninja, Yamaguchi popped out of nowhere, and suddenly, Hinata and Kageyama felt bad for forgetting he was there.**

**“I’m Yamaguchi Tadashi!” He chirped. “We’re your teammates starting today.”**

**As the two walked off, Hinata narrowed his eyes, “Those two give me the creeps.”**

Kageyama hummed, “So does Hello Kitty.”

“Hey, you promised not to tell anyone about that!”

“I don’t remember that.”

“Just like I can’t remember me promising to not tell anyone about how you peed yourself when Nishinoya-senpai scared you!”

“Hey!”

**“We’re gonna beat them!” Hinata declared, only to be met with a dull “You don’t need to tell me that.”**

**As Kageyama continued walking, Hinata stopped, confused.**

**“Wait, where are you going?” Hinata suddenly asked, causing Kageyama to stop in his tracks.**

**He turned around to meet the sight of Hinata spinning the ball in his hand, a confident smile on his face, “We’re not done here yet.”**

**Hesitantly, yet surely, Kageyama put down his bag, “Okay, let’s keep going.”**

**As they continued to practice, Yamaguchi caught up with his friend, “Tsukki, wait up!”**

**He was met with silence.**

**“What’s the matter?”**

**He saw the slight glint of annoyance in Tsukishima’s eyes, “That King...and that Shrimp…”**

“Hah! A bite!” Hinata blurted out, pointing victoriously at Kenma, who hesitantly nodded.

K.A.B’s: 6!

**“Guys who are intense for no reason get on my nerves, “ he calmly explained, though there was venom in his tone.**

**As they continued walking home, Sugawara and Tanaka had finally started making their way home, only to come across Hinata and Kageyama still practicing.**

**“How much longer are they going to keep doing this?” Sugawara asked nobody, concern lacing his words as Kageyama instructed Hinata again.**

**Tanaka yawned, “I’m getting sleepy just watching them.”**

**As Hinata received the ball again, Kageyama couldn’t help but think back to Tsukishima’s mocking tone,** **_“King.”_ **

**The sudden thought caused some sort of fury to surge through the setter, who spiked the ball with too much intensity to Hinata, who could barely react as the ball just rolled to the side after a sloppy receive.**

**He brushed the hit off, “Kageyama. It’s too dark to see clearly. You gotta watch how hard you’re hitting it.” He saw the way that he was breathing heavily, and it definitely wasn’t fatigue.**

**Kageyama roughly said, lacking sincerity, “Sorry.”**

Hinata stuck his tongue out, “Do you ever mean sorry when you say it?”

Kageyama huffed, Hinata not missing the light smirk tugging at his lips, “Not when it comes to you.”  _ There we go. _

“Rude!”

**_Scary,_ ** **Hinata thought.** **_That’s not an apologetic look._ **

**He looked over the setter, seeing the way he breathed intensely and how his shoulders were tense,** **_He’s been on edge ever since he came across that big guy._ **

**He picked up the volleyball, staring at it hard enough to burn holes through it,** **_But if he doesn’t toss to me, I can’t spike. I just gotta do my best receiving until I can get a toss._ **

“And yet you still can’t receive,” Kenma noted.

“I-I’m not that bad!” Hinata defended.

Oikawa clicked his tongue, humming in denial, “Not so sure about that, Shrimpy.”

“H-Hey!”

**The days seemed to meld by as Hinata and Kageyama continued to practice, the former doing most of the work. Bike down the mountain, practice for an hour or two before school, fall asleep in class, practice in lunch, fall asleep in class again, practice for hours on end after practice, and nearly collapse biking back home.**

**You know, the usual.**

“You looked like you were about to die on that last day,” Bokuto remarked. “Nice, nice.”

Akaashi raised his eyebrow, “No, not nice.”

Hinata chirped anyways, “It was fine! Natsu had to fan me back to consciousness, but I was a-okay!”

Kenma furrowed his eyebrows, concerned, “Wait, why didn’t I hear of this?”

“Wait, I didn’t know this too,” Kageyama clicked his tongue, suddenly looking at Hinata.

“Did I not tell you guys?” Hinata asked, suddenly confused.

Everyone in the room shook their heads.

“Oh, so after I got home that day, I decided to take a cold shower to help my muscles! But I kinda...fainted?” Hinata explained, “I don’t even remember slipping, but I woke up and headbutted Natsu because I thought I was late to practice…” he smiled sheepishly, meeting the deadpanning expressions of both setters next to him.

“You’re really stupid sometimes,” they told him in unison.

“I-I’m good most of the time!”

“Nope.”

**Friday’d finally come. A bright and early sunny morning, Hinata staring into the city from his mountain home. He let out a soft smile, a content sigh, and steeled himself for the steep path down.**

**After the half hour, the Karasuno gym lights had been turned on, the familiar sound of the volleyball meeting forearms repeating over and over.**

**Sugawara’s eyes had followed the ball over and over with it.**

**As Kageyama spiked the ball down again, Hinata put it right back up in the air, earning a shocked expression from the setter,** **_He couldn’t handle something like that before!_ **

“Well, you kinda just...beat my arms into nothingness,” Hinata snickered. “I’d hope I could do it.”

“Even babies can holes shapes in put.”

Oikawa wheezed, “I have never heard that phrase said so poorly.”

“And you won’t even correct me,” Kageyama defended.

“God himself couldn’t correct you if he tried,” Kenma quipped.

**Hinata taunted, “Don’t go easy on me!”**

**Kageyama grit his teeth, bringing his arm a little further back, “Fine, you asked for it!”**

**With some extra force, he spiked the ball down again, Hinata receiving it, but a little off balance.**

**An outside voice came, “Crap, I overslept!” Singing a little ditty to himself, Tanaka jogged to the door entrance, only to be surprised at the sight of Sugawara observing quietly and the ball go up in the air once more.**

**“How long have they been at this?” He asked in awe, setting his bag down on the ground.**

**Sugawara cranked the gears in his head, trying to estimate properly, “I...I got here fifteen minutes ago.”**

**“Fifteen minutes straight?” Tanaka breathlessly whispered.**

“That sounds like torture,” Kenma complained.

“That’s just because you hate moving,” Kuroo teased.

“Correct.”

“But playing volleyball is fun!” Hinata whined. “I wanna play right now!”

Iwaizumi sniffed, “Pretty sure we should have some free time after...all this. All our absences are apparently accounted for, so it should be fine if we play for a little bit. Four on four seems weird, but it could probably work.”

Hinata gasped, “What about like a King of the Hill sort of thing?! Pairs of two from each team are here, right?! We could play like that!”

Oikawa smirked, “And maybe cycle around, too, so we get to play with everyone on our team.”

Kageyama put a hand on his chin, “So the setters could also get a chance to spike if they want to.”

Akaashi smiled, “It’s settled, then. After this, though.”

Hinata bounced in his seat a few times, already excited.

**As Hinata received another ball, Kageyama observed,** **_His physical ability more than makes up for...how clumsy he is. But…_ **

**“You’ve gotta have reached your limit now!” Kageyama grit his teeth, spiking another ball. “There’s...just no way you can keep going!”**

**“Not yet!” Hinata shouted loudly, his voice desperate yet determined. “I...I haven’t dropped the ball yet!”**

**Kageyama narrowed his eyes, swinging with all his might.**

**He nearly missed.**

**Nearly.**

**That’s when the ball just sort of flew high above Hinata’s head and past him.**

**“How’s he supposed to get that?!” Tanaka reprimanded.**

“My bad,” Kageyama begrudgingly admitted.

Hinata giggled, “Oh, so you can apologize!”

“Don’t get used to it.”

**Kageyama gulped,** **_Crap, I didn’t mean to hit it like that._ **

**As Hinata’s body moved of its own accord, Sugawara crossed his arms, “Hinata’s athleticism’s just been amazing ever since junior high.”**

**Tanaka humphed in agreement.**

**“That’s not it, though,” Suga determined, causing Tanaka to quirk an eyebrow as the young boy ran towards the ball. “It feels...like he wants to win. Nothing else. He just wants to win, no matter what.”**

**The panting and the poor form of his running showed it all, “More than his quick reflexes or his physique, he’s got...grit.”**

**Kageyama watched from afar, somewhat surprised,** **_I can’t take it. He...he should be done by now._ **

“You look like a monster,” Oikawa observed.

Hinata sputtered, “It was hard, okay?!”

“Then stop pushing yourself to the point of fainting,” Kenma advised.

“You know that’s not an option…” Hinata pouted.

**_But the moment that I even think that...he’s already made that one last step._ **

**Hinata, suddenly finding a burst of energy, blasted off, reaching out as far as he could, barely reaching the ball and knocking it backwards before it could hit the floor.**

“Dude...that’s awesome!” Bokuto complimented, causing the short boy to scratch the back of his head in embarrassment.

**“He...he saved it! That’s amazing, Hinata!”**

**_I’ll...I’ll toss to anyone who’s essential to winning._ **

**A flash.**

**_But right now, I don’t think you’re essential to winning._ **

**Hinata’s voice rung in his mind,** **_I don’t want to lose anymore...why would I stop...when I haven’t lost yet?_ **

**Kageyama bit the inside of his cheek.**

Kuroo and Bokuto leaned forward, already anticipating the moment. They were practically on the edge of their seats.

Even Akaashi and Kenma had visibly shown some interest, moving from their comfortable position to look and almost  _ feel  _ closer to the moment.

**_Fine._ **

**Kageyama raised his hands, gently tossing the ball high into the air.**

**Tanaka looked on in awe, “He tossed to Hinata?”**

**Suga nodded, “He...he did it.”**

**They both quickly glanced at the boy, “He looks too tired to spike it, though.”**

“As if he’s ever been tired before,” Oikawa rolled his eyes.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen his energy run out,” Kuroo noted.

“That’s awesome!” Bokuto’s jaw dropped. “I wish I had that energy so I could just keep playing!”

“Bokuto, you’re just as wild as him most of the time,” Akaashi corrected.

“But Akaamericanschoolsaretortureespeciallyonlineclassesgasheigh!”

“How did you even say that without choking on your words?” Kuroo deadpanned.

**Yet, when his eyes landed on the ball, all his fatigue seemed to fade away, brightness and vividity in his eyes again as a giddy smile stuck.**

**In only a second, he was already there, slamming the ball down on the other side of the court with an exuberant look in his eyes.**

**There were pretty much literal sparkles around Hinata’s head as he jumped up and down as he watched the ball roll on the other side of the court.**

**“Jeez, how can you just run after all that?” Tanaka moaned quietly.**

“No idea,” Hinata admitted sheepishly.

“Uh, the bike ride every day? I can barely walk up there in an hour,” Kageyama rolled his eyes. “God, I remember that one time you got sick and I had to walk up the whole mountain to drop off your homework. You still owe me for that.”

“I already told you that I’d get you meat buns!”

**“Look how happy he is,” Sugawara pointed out. “I think that toss really meant something special to Hinata.” He watched as the boy ran up to Kageyama with the stars in his eyes, gushing about how awesome that was.**

**A flash of Hinata’s dejected eyes came on screen,** **_They were amazing friends and all that, but...they just weren’t really teammates._ **

**“We just sort of get the ball tossed by the setter,” Tanaka analyzed. “I guess that’s something that I take for granted, too.”**

**The fatigue had finally seemed to fully set in, as Kageyama approached Hinata, who had fallen onto his knees to catch a breath.**

**“Hey.”**

**Hinata took a moment to look up at the setter.**

**“We’re going to win tomorrow.”**

Kuroo gasped dramatically, “B-B-But ‘W-w-w-w-we?!’ Impossible!”

“Man, shoulda gone into theatre with that F grade acting.”

“Kenma, I’ll have you know that I’m a wonderful actor!” Kuroo defended indignantly, huffing.

“Sure you are.”

**Hinata’s eyes slightly widened, Suga’s words ringing in his head,** **_If he was your most formidable opponent…_**

**The orangette looked up at Kageyama, realizing,** **_now...he’s my most formidable ally…_ **

**Kageyama, seeming to have finally registered the words he said, tried to act cool and walked off without another word.**

**Hinata smiled brightly, stuttering as he felt a little tossing in his stomach, “O-of course we w-wi--”**

**His words were interrupted by a sudden surge of bile piling in Hinata’s cheeks until they couldn’t hold it back any more, the mesh of green and chunky lunch spewing out on the gym floor.**

“Daichi chewed me out so hard for that…” Hinata groaned. “Apparently he could smell how bad the puke smelled…”

Kageyama snorted, “I don’t see how he couldn’t smell it.”

Oikawa hummed, “You ever try breathing exercises?”

Hinata made a few facial expressions, “...That...is not a bad idea!”

Kenma hummed, scratching his cheek a little, “So your match is s’posed to be coming up next, right?”

Hinata nodded vigorously, his excitement only rivaled by the owl-head.

“Man, I can’t wait to see how they play together in a match!” Bokuto declared, standing proudly in anticipation.

Kuroo chucked, “Me too. I wanna see what else these crows got up their sleeves...”

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was that?
> 
> Probably a little...subpar, honestly. But, hey, I just hope that you guys enjoy it! It's a little bit shorter than the other chapters, but I hope it was enough for you guys to enjoy!
> 
> Oh, by the way, my brain's just sort of pooped itself, and I wanted to ask you guys. What tags do you think works best with this work? I literally can't think of anything else to add as a tag here.
> 
> If there's any mistakes that I made, please let me know...like, please. I looked over this twice after I finished writing and tweaked a few things, but if there's something that I missed, please, please, please tell me!
> 
> Have a great day!
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> SpiritBloodDragon


	5. Episode 4: The View From The Summit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 3v3, tsukki exposes kags, and hinata shuts him up through s p e e d

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo! I'm not dead!
> 
> So, I kinda really don't have an excuse, but I do have a reason. I don't think of it as an excuse though, cause y'know, it's been almost 2 months. which is a l o n g t i m e.
> 
> I'll explain in the good old 20 words or less, from Saitama.
> 
> It felt like I forced myself to write. I wrote stuff a bit for fun to help me get back.
> 
> So yeah, while I was writing this chapter, I just sorta...felt like it wasn't too much fun, and writing just to write felt more like a boring 9-5 job that was just so torturous, which is why I made a Haikyuu cuddle fanfic stuff to help me have more fun and feel way more free without some sort of obligation, you feel? But now, I'm back with a super long chapter because j e e z this episode was long.
> 
> (Also, I kind of switched to manga mid-episode but went back to anime so there might be some inaccuracies in the middle of the chapter.)
> 
> Enjoy!

“Bro, I just took the most disgusting dump the world has ever seen,” Bokuto proudly bragged to Kuroo as he plopped down on the couch with a content sigh.

“Bro,” Kuroo rolled his eyes, shoving his friend a bit away from him. “Find me two people who asked, and I’ll find you two liars.”

AS the two of them continued their light banter, Kenma had opted to grab another box of apple juice from the fridge nearby, and Hinata continued looking in there periodically to see if there was anything that he could scrounge up to make a decent dish. He looked in there, pondering what sort of food he could possibly make without a heat source and with the ingredients in the fridge.

“Oy, dumbass, are we going to watch, or what?” Kageyama grumbled. “We’ve been waiting for five minutes because you can’t decide what to eat.” He eventually plopped down on the couch with the others with a thud, causing Kenma to bounce up lightly.

“But I want ice cream and some other food but the ice cream’ll make me hyper, too!” Hinata moaned, pouting as he indignintally slammed the door to the fridge shut, stomping over to join his friends.

“You’re literally always hyper, Shrimpy,” Oikawa countered, mildly amused by the whole situation as he crossed one leg over the other.

Iwaizumi hummed, putting a hand on his head, “This is the only time I’ll ever agree with you for the rest of your life, Shittykawa. Enjoy it while it lasts.” Afterwards, he pinched the bridge of his nose, dissatisfied with ever talking with his childhood friend.

“Can we start the episode?” Akaashi prompted before the conflict between the two Aoba Johsai members could spiral into chaos.

“Sure!” Hinata chirped, snatching the remote from the table and pressing play.

**The screen stayed black for a moment, before a phrase popped up on the screen in the most Times New Roman-looking japanese character font possible.**

**“The player is not a soloist, but a member of an orchestra. When a player begins to think, ‘I’m special,’ [that player] is finished.” - Bernardo Rezende, director of the Brazilian Men’s Volleyball Team.**

Hinata instantly bounced in his seat, “See, Bakayama?!”

“Coulda sworn we went over this last episode, but your attention span isn’t high enough for that sort of stuff,” Kageyama grumbled, an embarrassed blush adorning his cheeks. He turned his face away from Hinata, refusing to make eye contact with him for the time being, until he got over his saltiness, that is.

Oikawa clicked his tongue, smug as he reminded, “Your attention span when Nakiri-Sensei was talking about food.” He scratched the back of his head as he saw Iwaizumi pale at the memory, suddenly shivering.

“You’re so fucking lucky that he roped  _ me  _ into that, and not you,” Iwaizumi shuddered, shoulders tense all of a sudden, his face wrinkled in anger. Kenma could’ve sworn those wrinkles of anger were going to stay if he kept it up.

Hinata complained, “When are you guys going to tell me all of these stories about Kageyama?!” He put his hands in his lap, clasped together as his torso stretched out to emphasize his point. Oddly enough, he more resembled a cat than a crow at that moment, but nobody felt like noting it.

“When you’re older, Chibi-Chan,” Oikawa smoothly answered, crossing one leg over the other as he casually slid back into his seat, leaning against the back of the couch with a smirk on his face.

“But I’m older than Kageyama!” Hinata defended. “And that’s not even a full answer!” He harrumphed, rolling his eyes with a severe pout on his face. He looked really immature in the moment, but also really hard to refuse to give an answer to.

“Wasn’t supposed to be, either,” Oikawa ended the conversation with a nod of his head, though kept his nose in the air for the sake of his pride, however worthless that was supposed to be, anyways.

**When the screen faded to black once more, there was a faint sound that grew louder and louder.**

**A flash to the past, a memory. Kageyama, sweaty and disheveled, hands on his knees as he breathed heavily, panting for air as beads of sweat rolled down the sides of his face, his eyes still focused as ever.**

**He could see the way the opponents smirked confidently, the way their hands were up in the air, ready to smack the ball down the moment the spiker tried to move, and Kageyama was...frustrated.**

**He felt his heart pound, as if it was the only rhythm in the room, the only beat and melody playing in life. He saw only the court, the bleachers, the benches, the referee, all of them had faded off into obscurity as he laser-focused on the one task at hand.**

**Knees weak, arms heavy, he felt like vomiting. Yet, as the receive went up, his legs moved of their own volition through the violent screeching of his nerves as he tossed the ball to his teammate.**

**It wasn’t nearly enough. For his standards, nor theirs.**

**He was howling, barking, commanding, “Move! Move faster, already!” He clenched his fists until his knuckles were white, throwing them down in frustration, not unlike a temper tantrum.**

**Yet, he didn’t fully know whether or not he was yelling at his teammates or yelling at himself. It was a mystery, and the eerie silence, the lack of squeaky footsteps on the court, and the quiet echoing of his voice just felt...wrong. Like something was bound to go awry.**

**_More! More! More!_ ** **He mentally commanded himself as his hands touched the ball once again. He could feel his joints tense up, his performance lowering. The well oiled machine that he’d tuned himself to be had become lower-quality as he focused on what he had to do rather than how he did it.**

**And as he set the ball again, he quietly gasped, for the lack of the squeaky footsteps wasn’t just its presence or how prominent the sound was.**

**Those footsteps simply weren’t there.**

Someone in the room wanted to talk, wanted to interrupt, yenned to lighten the mood, but couldn’t seem to. Even Kuroo, who typically was the one to break the ice and lower the tension, had his eyes glued to the T.V.

Even Kageyama had already gotten in his mind that it was a memory of his, one that felt private, yet one that he couldn’t tear his eyes away from. It was...there. And he had no clue how to feel. It wasn’t sadness, nor was it anger. It felt...empty. Revealing. Vulnerable.

And the words and actions on the screen was enough to change all of their moods completely, turning even the animated Bokuto into a silent, attentive observer.

**As the ball bounced onto the court, its echo nearly bursting in Kageyama’s ears, he couldn’t even muster the anger to reprimand his teammates, simply asking, “Why?” He scanned over his team, only to be met with disheartened faces and bodies that clearly were slumped over, bored and tired.**

**_Why won’t they...why don’t they jump?_ ** **Kageyama whispered to himself, stupefied at the scene in front of him. Despite the fact that Kunimi and Kindaichi turned around completely normally, Kageyama felt as if there were demonic eyes looking into his soul, when in reality, it was just a pair of junior high boys looking at him.**

**Granted, the look was paired with sheer resentment and enmity, but it felt like it was far more than that. Kageyama’s breath hitched. He could feel his own heartbeat at this point, and he didn’t like it.**

Hinata poked Kageyama’s cheek, just to make sure that he was still there and not floating in his mind for a slight moment.

“Hey, what was that for, dumbass?!” Kageyama exclaimed, lightly kicking Hinata’s shin. He crossed his arms as he glared at the shorter boy, knowing that there was no reason for his action. Granted, there weren’t any reasons for him to poke his cheek and interrupt it either.

Hinata only dopily smiled at his teammate. It was a method that he’d used time and time again, both in this room and out of it. He’d used it in games, in practices, in walks to home, everywhere. It was his certified method to get Kageyama to calm down, and somehow, in some way, the setter hadn’t become absolutely feral whenever it happened.

**Kindaichi sighed, turning around to fully face Kageyama as he put a hand on his hip, waving absentmindedly with the other one, “We’re done. We’re just...fed up with you now. Go play on your own or something.”**

**At those words, an intrusive sound came out of nowhere. A light, incessant beeping that slowly became louder and louder, amplifying with each beep.**

**Kageyama gasped, jolting up in his bed with a cold sweat, room dark as he breathed heavily. He could feel his heart pound, hear it in his ears as he whipped his head to look all around him.**

**After a few moments, he groaned, scratching his head and brushing a few strands of hair out of his face as he slammed himself back down onto his bed, smacking around a little above him for a moment until he finally felt his alarm clock, which nearly fell from the force of how hard he was swinging his arm.**

Hinata scrunched his face up, questioning out loud hesitantly, “Do you still have those nightmares now, Kageyama?”

Kageyama plopped his head on his head, humming quietly, “I think the last time I’d had a nightmare was maybe two months ago, but that was about --” he cut himself off, face flushing in embarrassment as his lips turned into a thin line, refusing to open and finish his statement.

“Huh? What was it about?” Hinata innocently questioned, only to be met with the glare of Kageyama.

He whipped out his phone in an instantly, unlocking it with a speed that Hinata hadn’t ever seen before from the setter. He glanced around the room and noticed that everyone else seemed pretty occupied either with the T.V or talking to each other.

He furiously typed out some text on his phone, foolishly not turning off his ringer, one of the biggest social travesties in existence to any rational being, especially considering the modernity of newer phones.

Shoving the phone in front of Hinata’s face, the older first-year had to back up a little to read out what the bolded, capitalized text had said, “Oi-”

Kageyama slammed a finger onto his face, urgently whispering, “Sh! In your head, dumbass!”

_ Oikawa. _

Hinata raised an eyebrow, his look just spelling it out:  _ You’re such a dweeb sometimes, Bakayama. _

**Once the time had passed, a gentle picture of the Karasuno gym shining in the light, sun pouring in through the upper windows.**

**Kiyoko opened the rusty metal door, a creaking noise screeching out as she slid it over. As she gently yawned, she brushed a few strands of hair out of her face as she greeted cordially, “Good morning, everybody.” Her voice retained its softness and timidity as she spoke, yet it held firmness in its foundation. She wore the same white track suit that she normally did before school had started, yet it seemed a little more wrinkly than normal.**

**Her presence caught the eyes of everyone there. Ennoshita nodded towards her. Tanaka, as if on cue, bowed down in reverence to the girl.**

**Hinata, in particular, blushed lightly, leaning over to Kageyama, who’d been stretching a little too vigorously to seem normal.**

“Uh...I think you’re gonna pull a muscle there,” Bokuto cringed. He’d stretched a lot before games and practice. In fact, he actually had a ritual (by which he almost always forgot until Akaashi reminded him that he needed to stretch) that he repeated time and time again.

Kuroo bit his lip in concern, “No man should ever be that flexible.”

Oikawa snorted, “Just wait until he tries to stretch in front of you. He’s like a literal human ragdoll.”

Bokuto raised an eye, slightly intrigued. He’d heard from Kuroo about one of the top three aces possessing almost inhuman flexibility, but he didn’t think this tense, absolutely rigid setter in front of him would possess something similar.

Of course, Kageyama just thought he was stretching normally. Being able to touch your toes after extending them did not seem like a hard thing to do at all, though he simply chalked it up to Kuroo’s explanation.

Granted, the rooster’s justification as to why the third-years couldn’t do it was relatively stupid, being that “Us Third-years can’t have the sort of flexibility that the youth have nowadays.”

Kenma sent him an unimpressed look.

~~~

There was nothing but sheer disgust rolling off of the ace in waves, causing his team to shudder, feeling the atmosphere chill to a nearly bose-einstein condensate state.

“Sakusa, you good?” Iizuna, their captain, questioned. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you sneeze.”

“Get away from me,” Sakusa scoffed, taking off his mask and equipping himself with four bottles of sanitizer, two in each hand. “The day I allow any of these germs to you all and thus other people close to me is the day I truly have met my defeat. And as long as I keep fighting, I will never lose.”

Komori and Iizuna traded looks of shared experience, though some of the first-years were unfamiliar with these habits.

“Just don’t try to kill anyone with this spray,” Iizuna nodded, knowing that he wouldn’t even be able to convince Sakusa otherwise.

“It is best if I return home for a contained environment,” he explained succinctly. “Apologize to Coach for me. This is a higher priority at the moment.”

Iizuna yawned, stretching his arms out, “Yeah, just make sure you make it up next time.”

“Of course.”

~~~

**Hinata whispered to Kageyama, furiously tapping his shoulder as he did so, “Wait, is that her? Is that the pretty girl? The pretty girl from yesterday? Wait, is she the manager?” As Kiyoko seemed to not notice, too distracted by the sight of Tanaka hugging himself in sheer bliss at her silent rejection, she walked off while the bald teen sighed in ecstasy.**

All eyes in the room darted over to Hinata, who’d noticed immediately and hid his face in his knees, “S-Shuddup! She’s pretty, alright?! I’m not blind!” His voice was incredibly squeaky and barely composed, his blatant admiration for the third-year waved in front of their faces.

Kenma took a sip of his apple juice, “I dunno what the issue is. She  _ is  _ really pretty.” He tilted his head in confirmation, eyes as bland and uninterested as ever.

Oikawa snorted, “Dude, Karasuno’s literally known in the prefecture to some people as the team with the pretty manager. It’d be impossible not to know why after seeing her.”

Akaashi nodded, “Agreed.”

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows at the other setters, his confused tone seeping into his words, “What are you talking about? People call our team that? Why? It’s not like she plays.”

Hinata smirked underneath where people could see, still glad that somehow, in some way, Kageyama was still more clueless than him sometimes.

Of course, that didn’t stop his cheeks from burning, but it helped his pride.

**However, before Kageyama could respond, even if he wanted to, Daichi cleared his throat and spoke up, catching Hinata’s attention, “All right, let’s get started now.”**

**As the captain stuck his thumb out towards the disinterested teen, who was standing next to Yamaguchi who had a slightly apprehensive look on his face, he explained, “I’ll be on Tsukishima’s team.” This seemed to finally catch the tall boy’s attention as he turned his head towards the captain.**

**Hinata popped up, concerned, “W-Wait, what, captain?!” He was in disbelief, and frankly, a little bit worried. This, however, sparked Daichi to casually chuckle as he scratched the back of his neck, putting up a hand to reassure the young boy.**

**“Don’t worry, Tanaka’s a better attacker than I am,” he explained, sending a glance over at the bald boy.**

**Surprisingly enough, he didn’t seem as rambunctious as usual, not as loud as normal. Daichi almost expected Tanaka to explode in a loud rant about his ability and confidence, speaking about his power and perfect role-model material to Hinata and Kageyama.**

**He stayed silent, as if mulling over something, eyes sharp and observant.**

**Tsukishima, ever the instigator, stepped forward, hands behind his back like a substitute teacher passing by your desk as you were taking a quiz, before holding his left hand to his mouth to clear his throat. He took a soft inhale before opening his eyes, a snake-like look in them.**

**“Captain...the little one and Tanaka-san…” Tsukishima began, his tone just sounding like his ass was about to be jealous of his mouth for the shit coming out of it. “Which one should I crush -- I mean block first?”**

**As if on cue, a flaming aura surrounded Hinata, a fiery look in his eyes. He stayed silent with a smile on his face as he kept bugging Kageyama. Tanaka, on the other hand, heard it loud and clear, and gained a heavy smile that was too happy to possibly be true.**

Kenma shuddered.

Kuroo rolled his eyes, sending the setter a look that just screamed,  _ Tora, right? _

Kenma nodded, not knowing precisely what he was nodding to. 

**Tsukishima hummed, smirking again, “Ah, I’d like to see the King lose as well, wouldn’t you, Captain?” He put his hand up to his mouth in a way that’d amplify the volume. Yamaguchi shuffled his feet until he got closer to Tsukishima.**

**He whispered with a concerned expression on his face, lips pressed into a thin line, “Tsukki, they’re going to hear you!” He looked at the others in the room, glancing between them with increasing worry.**

**Tsukishima sighed, putting his right hand on his hip as his sweater made a few shuffling noises, “I’m saying it precisely so they can hear it, Yamaguchi.”**

Kuroo hummed, “He just seemed really salty when I first met him. I didn’t think he actively tried to do all this stuff.”

Hinata complained, “He still does! He just mainly focuses on me, though, because of my grades! I wanna have a study night and Tsukishima’s the only other person I could actively talk to for it but he never wants to!”

Iwaizumi noted, “Have you considered talking to any of your other classmates about it?” He pointed out the possibility with a tilt of his head, thinking about the times he’d had study groups over particular annoying subjects.

Hinata blinked, before making a weird facial expression that looked like he was really thinking about his answer, “I mean...I guess? I’ve tried asking and making plans, but usually they give up on teaching me before I get to learn anything…”

Kenma raised an eyebrow, “Have you asked Kuroo to teach you? He’s literally Nekoma’s resident nerd of the century.” He gestured at the rooster-head to emphasize his point.

Kuroo glared at Kenma, before sweetly looking at Hinata in what could only be described as what one think of when hearing someone speak of a jump from one’s ego to their intelligence, “Don’t worry your little head about what Kenma’s saying…”

Kenma rolled his eyes, pouting, “Kuroo kept putting off Mario Kart because he felt like studying chemistry.” In a surprising act seemingly uncharacteristic of Kenma, he put his hands out in absolute shock and frustration. “Like, what person would willingly put off video games just to study chemistry and biology too?! And he’s on the math team?”

Kuroo chuckled, closing his eyes as he sighed wistfully “It comes with age, Kenma.”

“Oh, shut it,” Kenma responded, still seeming a little salty about being refused in his offer to play videogames.

**Tsukishima stretched a little, adding a little more oomph to his tone, “Man, I sure can’t wait for when they lose their cool!”**

**Daichi lightly chuckled at his underclassman’s act of provoking everyone else as he shook his head, “Tsukishima, you sure have character problems.”**

“That’s an understatement,” Oikawa snickered, putting his hand over his mouth to hide the volume.

_ Coming from you? That’s saying a lot,  _ Iwaizumi mused, rolling his eyes with a slight smirk on his face.

**As if to prove his point, Tsukishima continued, “Y’know, I hear that the special feature of today is the King himself! The great one abandoned by his underlings…” He spoke as if he was presenting something for a T.V commercial, like Kageyama was the subject in show-and-tell.**

**At this, Kageyama tensed up a little bit, but he was facing away from Tsukishima at the moment. While he didn’t say or do anything directly at the moment, it was clear that his words had stung pretty deeply at the moment.**

**“Hey, hey,” Tanaka said in a rather girly voice, skipping up to Hinata and Kageyama who were standing on the court with a seemingly innocent smile.**

Bokuto bristled at that, subconsciously daring Tanaka to say it again, finish the phrase, to finish  _ his  _ phrase, even if the bald boy didn’t even know who it belonged to in the first place.

Akaashi shuddered, before wildly glancing at Bokuto. The signs were subtle, but they were there. It wasn’t unsurprising that nobody else had picked up on the signs, but having practiced with the owl every single day, seeing them had become second nature to him. Knowing what those signs were had become absolutely imperative in both preventing his emo modes and returning him to his normal state.

Simply put, it looked like Bokuto was absolutely ready to compete with someone, to push himself to his limit, but for the life of him, despite knowing all of the signs that Bokuto had displayed and looking at the T.V, Akaashi just couldn’t piece together why.

**“Didja hear that?” Tanaka brought up, clicking his tongue as he stood in place, hands at his sides, smile unwavering. “My, the things he said…” He put a hand on his chin, not unlike how a secret admirer would do thinking about their crush.**

**“Oh, that Tsukishima-kun...I’m really going to have to…” He whined, just like a Tsundere would, putting his hands down forcefully onto his jacket in mock frustration.**

Hinata gently elbowed Kageyama, whispering, “Oh, I remember this!” He giggled at the memory.

Kageyama lightly smiled, biting the inside of his cheek, “I can’t believe he even did all of that…”

**In a flash, Tanaka gained a dark aura around him, eyes sharpening and veins popping up that not even doctors were aware that veins could pop out of, turning towards Tsukishima with a malicious expression etched deeply onto his face, as if carved.**

**“Just...gonna have to...crush him to a pulp,” he explained darkly, tone brusque and shoulders tightened like a vice, and Karasuno could swear they saw black flames just crash off of Tanaka.**

Akaashi chuckled lightly, “Sounds like he’s just gonna kill him.”

Kenma asked the other quiet setter, gently nudging him with his sleeve, “Do you have anyone like this on your team? Like Tora or Tanaka?”

Akaashi hummed, tilting his head in one direction before tilting it to the other as he thought about his team in his head, “No, not really. Everyone else that starts are first-years, so I don’t get to talk to them too often.”

Kenma mumbled to himself, “Must be nice…”

**The other three second-years watched on as Tanaka turned into a serial killer for a slight moment, catching even Kageyama off guard as he stared at Tanaka with his lips parted in surprise.**

**Hinata, also feeling some sort of negativity, stuck out his tongue mockingly.**

“Gotta be real, Shrimpy,” Oikawa snickered. “You do  _ not  _ seem like the person to even harm a fly. You’d probably apologize to the fly for getting in its way or something.”

Hinata blurted out without thinking, flushing quickly as he pouted, “N-No! I-I can fight!”

Kageyama smirked, “Says the person who’s so small they could probably be picked up by a small fly.” He ignored the cries of protest in addition to the smacks on his arm in indignance.

As the intro song started to finish up, Oikawa elbowed Iwaizumi lightly, “Iwa-chan, do you think you know anyone on our team who’s that aggressive?”

The ace tapped his temple for a moment in thought, taking the question seriously, something that he wasn’t used to doing when it came to Oikawa. It was just second nature to ignore anything that he said that hearing a serious question was a foreign concept to him.

Iwaizumi put his hand on his chin as he sighed, finally deciding on what to say, “Remember that one piece of shit who kept leaving the team and getting suspended because he was being an asshole?”

“Oh! Kyo-Ken-chan?!” Oikawa gasped. “He was always so mean to me!” The setter whined, wiggling his fingers like whenever Ushijima was always so blunt to him.

“That’s ‘cause you couldn’t beat him in most things,” Iwaizumi bragged haughtily with a smirk on his face, never one to tease his childhood friend.

“Don’t brag that you were able to!” Oikawa barked indignantly, before slumping back into the couch as the intro music started to die down.

**The match had finally started, Tanaka roaring like a wild animal as he smacked the set ball into Tsukishima’s right arm, blasting right off of the first-year onto their side of the court.**

**As the two of them landed from the encounter, Hinata broke out into an impressed smile, in awe at the display of power from his upperclassman with his hands on his knees, seemingly passive at the moment.**

**Kinoshita whistled as he leaned on the scoreboard, flipping another point on the board for Tanaka’s team, “Wow, he really blew that giant first-year out of the water…”**

**Ennoshita agreed, nodding with a hand on his hip, “Yeah, he looks like he’s got more power than usual.” The three of them nodded in agreement, before seeing Tanaka take a deep breath.**

**“Oh no…” they all muttered in unison.**

**As if on cue, Tanaka ripped his sweater off of him, which surprisinngly wasn’t stained by any sort of sweat so far, whirling it around like a towel, screaming like a Nordic warrior.**

**Kiyoko stared on, apathetic as always, while Sugawara lectured him, pretty much reprimanding him in the most weary way possible, having experienced this thousands upon thousands of times before.**

**As the other second-years joined in on the banter, Daichi lightly laughed, turning towards Tsukishima who was looking at the scene in front of him with dead eyes. “Maybe you shouldn’t have provoked Tanaka in the first place,” he lightheartedly smiled.**

Akaashi cringed, glad that not even Bokuto was that rowdy during practice, “You know...I...don’t think that’d be great to do during winter…”

Kageyama scoffed at nothing in particular, though his words held no bite to them, “I mean, Suga-san and Daichi-san has had to stop Tanaka from doing that during our practice matches with other teams, and especially in actual official games…”

Kuroo nodded, “Yeah, I heard about that. Apparently, Tora and him were planning to do a joint thing like that together during our next practice game. I had to threaten him with not even playing, and even then, he almost didn’t let up.”

Kenma rolled his eyes, “I don’t know why, honestly. He’d never done that in the past, so I don’t know why he’d start doing it now.”

~~~

“Yamamoto, I swear to god, if you sneeze one more time, I will send you smack you to next week. You’re going to get it on me,” Yaku barked harshly, pointing aggressively at Lev. “Look! Lev’s still wiping off his jersey because you already did that!”

The ace turned towards the Russian with a slightly open mouth, before gaping at the absolute mess that he’d made on the boy’s shirt.

“Oops.”

~~~

**As the serve went up, Tanaka signaled with his hands, “Got it!”**

**Hinata and Kageyama nodded, getting ready themselves, “Okay!”**

**They watched the ball cleanly hit Tanaka’s forearms, well received and heading towards Kageyama, signed with an accomplished smirk from the bald teen.**

**_Me too...Me too…_ ** **Hinata excitedly thought, a smile plastered on his face.** **_I can get a toss, also!_ **

**“Hinata,” Kageyama calmly called out, the ball floating high in the air after Kageyama made contact with it.**

**_This…_ ** **Hinata realized.** **_This is my first high school match...my first high school spike!_ **

**Once he got close to the net, he bent his knees slightly, and bounced.**

**And bounced he did. He soared high, arms already in the air, prepared to spike. Kiyoko, who’d had her whistle in her mouth, had her eyes widen slightly, not having high expectations of Hinata from her first impression of him.**

**Kinoshita, Ennoshita, and Narita were also caught off guard.**

Bokuto whistled, impressed, “I’m surprised that Kageyama didn’t just refuse to set to you even though he already did…”

Oikawa smirked, practically beaming at the fact that it wasn’t only him who was teasing Kageyama at this point.

Kuroo hummed, “When did you realize that you could jump like that?” He looked at Hinata, curious.

The boy put a hand on his chin, mentally putting on his thinking cap, “Uh...I know that it was sometime during middle school, since that’s when I started getting into volleyball…” He bounced his leg rapidly, really putting some effort into it. “I’m pretty sure it was sometime during second-year middle school? I think that was when I actually had people that could toss to me…”

Kageyama huffed, “Now only if you went to a school that had a volleyball team.”

**_I’ll score!_ ** **Hinata assured himself, swinging his arms with all his might.**

**A smack was heard, and before he knew it, Hinata, looking down at the ground from his swing, could see the ball out of his peripherals, on his side of the court. He looked up as he landed, seeing Tsukishima, who’d blocked it casually with a bored, almost offended look on his face, like it wasn’t worthy of being blocked.**

**_But...even here,_ ** **Hinata remembered the wall of Kitagawa Daiichi players standing in front of him, then looking at Tsukishima.** **_There’s a tall, tall wall in front of me…_ **

**As Tsukishima put his hands to his sides, he admitted, “You surprised me the other day, too. You sure can jump.”**

**Hinata’s face was twisted in anguish as Tsukishima said to nobody in particular as he turned away from the raillery, “If only you were...30 centimeters taller.** **_Then_ ** **you really could’ve become a superstar.”**

“Okay, now that’s just being petty,” Oikawa huffed. “It’s not like it’s going to kill him not to be a prick.”

Iwaizumi gruffly lectured, “You’re literally just like that.”

“N-Not in volleyball!” Oikawa defended himself, before slouching over. “I couldn’t imagine ever seriously getting angry at a person for pushing themselves in volleyball.”

**Hinata gulped, his voice caught in his throat before muttering, “One more!”** **_So he’s tall! He’s only one person, right?_ **

**As the whistle blew again, it was as if the events of the past twenty seconds repeated themselves, resulting in Hinata being blocked by Tsukishima once more.**

**Kinoshita stuttered out, “Dang...blocked again…”**

**Ennoshita put a hand on his hip, observing, “Tanaka seems to be scoring consistently, though.”**

“So, maybe he’s a better blocker than I thought,” Kuroo pouted, knowing that Kenma had compared him to the blond in terms of blocking before, though nobody else heard it. 

**“As Yamaguchi contragulated Tsukishima again, the blond turned towards Kageyama, who was getting frustrated. A devious smirk came.**

**“Oy, since your teammate keeps getting blocked…” Tsukishima started to suggest. “Maybe you should do the King’s toss, right?”**

**Another infomercial presentation-like voice came into Tsukishima’s, more voice than the boy would ever sincerely put into his words, “The one that decimates his enemies...and also his teammates!”**

**Kageyama tensed up slightly, “Shut it.” He walked away without another word.**

**As the whistle sounded off again, Yamaguchi served after taking a deep breath. However, his slightly shaking hands affected the serve, sending it into the net.**

**“Sorry, Tsukki!”**

“Has he always been like that?” Kenma asked. He remembered that something like that had happened either during or after their first practice match together, he could feel it. Or, maybe he was wrong and just imagining things. Either one.

“Well, he was like that when we first met him,” Kageyama explained. “I don’t know how long he’s been like that, though.”

**“Don’t mind, don’t mind!” Daichi assured them as Kageyama picked up the ball.**

**Sugawara recalled the events of when they first met the first-years,** **_Kageyama’s jump serve was pretty powerful…_ **

**“We don’t need a speedy attack,” Kageyama assured himself. “We can win without it.” As he spun the ball in his hands, he took a deep breath.**

**As Hinata cheered him on, Kageyama took a moment to bounce the ball before tossing it up in the air,** **_I’ll rack up the points for us, along with Tanaka._ **

**He grunted loudly as he sent the ball over to their side of the court with lightning speed, expecting it to hit the ground quickly.**

**Instead, Daichi quickly stepped while in position, calmly watching the ball as he received it without much trouble, bending his knees slightly to brace for the impact.**

**Hinata and Kageyama’s faces broke out into surprise, clearly not expecting something like that to happen.**

Hinata saw Oikawa open his mouth, no doubt for a snarky remark, and beat him to the punch, “Okay, I gotta admit, I’d only played against Bakayama before,” he stuck his thumb out at the setter who bristled at the remark. “And I didn’t know at that point that there were better defenders than him.”

Kuroo jumped on it, “Well, that doesn’t explain Tsukishima. You were blocked by him twice.”

Hinata blurted out to defend himself, “W-Well, Kageyama’s obviously better than Tsukishima, s-so I thought that’d like, equate to being better than Daichi-san!”

He felt Kageyama smirk from behind him, and shuddered. He turned around to meet the sight of Kageyama holding his phone out with the voice recording app open, before he smugly pressed the ‘Stop Recording’ button.

“So, what about me being better than Tsukishima?” Kageyama taunted as Hinata instinctively jumped for his phone, crying out in protest the entire time.

“Meanie!”

**As the ball comfortably went to Tsukishima, he calmly called out, “Yamaguchi.”**

**The shorter boy jumped up, shouting out, “Got it!” before spiking down fast enough for Hinata to fail to get into position.**

**“Nice job, Yamaguchi,” Daichi congratulated, wiping off some sweat from his brow.**

**Tanaka stayed wary, walking up to Kageyama while his eyes were still locked on the other team, “Daichi-san’s weapon is his solid receive...They’ve got some serious defense…” He could see Kageyama’s face morph into frustration, brain racking as it worked to come up with something.**

**Daichi hummed, putting his hands on his knees while examining the marks engraving themselves onto his forearms, “Y’think y’would’ve scored a few points like that?” He stared at Kageyama intently, a gentle smile on his face.**

Kuroo shuddered.

Kageyama grunted, “Well, yeah...I hadn’t tried that on Oikawa, so…”

Oikawa perked up at the mention of his name from his dear underclassman, “Oh, what’s that, Tobio-chan?”

Kageyama stayed silent, pursing his lips into a thin line, locking them down for the rest of the episode.

**“I may not be a genius like you,” Daichi began. “But I’ve broken my body enough to fit this receive just tight enough, and built that up two years longer than you…” He raised an eyebrow, almost tauntingly. “Don’t think you’re going to break through that easily.”**

**Kageyama stayed silent, a barbed remark on the tip of his tongue, before he forced it back down.**

**Tsukishima walked up to the net when Daichi was done, putting his hands to his mouth to amplify his voice like a megaphone, “C’mon, your highness! Shouldn’t you start getting serious soon?”**

Kageyama clenched his fists lightly, before Hinata punched his arm just as light as a feather, “Hey, don’t pout like that!”

**Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t Kageyama who blew up at that, but Hinata, throwing his hands up in an attempt to intimidate, similar to a chihuahua, “Hey! What’s with you?! You’ve like this since yesterday! What’s with this ‘King toss’ you keep talking about?!”**

**The entire barrage of questions didn’t faze Tsukishima in the slightest, who merely smirked and pushed up his glasses like the typical smart anime character would.**

_ Somewhere outside of the room… _

In a sudden wave, as if rippling in a pond, some shuddered. Some gulped. Some felt as if they were pushed, a primal instinct awakening within them.

It hadn’t impacted some of the population, nor did it impact anyone with contacts in.

Yet, whether or not they were playing sports, taking a test, or doing their job, or even if they were asleep.

A subconscious voice screamed out at them to do the same.

_ Push your glasses up. _

**Tsukishima seemed taken aback, however, before his shoulders tensed up in realization and he let out a soft laugh, something that Hinata was unaware the boy could produce, “Oh, I see. Do y’know why he’s called the ‘King’ in the first place?”**

**This time, it was Hinata’s turn to be confused. “Huh?” He tilted his head, sticking his thumb out at the King. “Isn’t it ‘cause he’s kinda super good, and everyone else is really scared of his skills or something?”**

Hinata snorted, “Now I know not to be scared of his skills, especially with some of the stuff he’s done out of practice.”

Kageyama squeezed his head as a warning, rolling his eyes with an amused smirk on his face, “Yeah, yeah.”

Oikawa kept it to himself that he was also called to by the short boy as the “Grand King.” He was pretty sure that ranked above a normal king.

**Tsukishima scoffed, before looking back at the other team with dead, calculatingly cold eyes, “I suppose that’s part of it. Normal people who don’t really get volleyball probably would just think of it like that.” Hinata stared on dumbly, unaware of the insult directed towards the dilettante. “But there’s something else.”**

**Tsukishima stared at Hinata, then his eyes flickered to Kageyama as he chose his next words, “Rumor is that the nickname was given to him by his very own teammates. The other guys in Kitagawa Daiichi.”**

Oikawa raised his eyebrow, looking at Iwaizumi for confirmation, “Did that happen while we were there, or did it happen after we graduate?” It was a genuine question. If anything, he thought he’d probably be called the King for trying to physically assault his underclassman.

_ No, that’s just called an asshole,  _ Oikawa rolled his eyes to himself before directing his attention towards his best friend.

“Nah, I don’t think they did,” Iwaizumi casually responded. “Musta happened his second year, right? Maybe his third. ‘Cause they seemed used to his treatment, right?” Oikawa nodded. “Yeah, I don’t think I heard him be called the King. He was too busy simping for you.”

Oikawa cried out in protest, the wails seeming like music to Iwaizumi’s ears.

**He looked at the ball rolling to a stop, “Y’know how most kings were throughout history. Tyrannical. Oppressive. They might as well have just been called dictators at that point in time, but a King sounds much more nice, right?” He sighed dramatically, shaking his head in an obvious ploy to provoke the setter. “That’s just a rumor I heard once, but watching that one game? I was in** **_full_ ** **agreement.”**

**“He took that tyranny to such a point that he was forcefully benched.”**

Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, remembering that he’d read something in shock during his third year about Kitagawa Daiichi being defeated in the finals or semifinals or something like that. He scratched his head, unsure about whether or not that memory was something he’d made up just to feel like he knew about it.

“Seems kind of rude, bringing it up in front of the entire gym,” Akaashi muttered, causing Bokuto, who was across the room, to vehemently nod in agreement. “I’m kind of surprised that they didn’t punish him. His behavior seems worse than Hinata’s or Kageyama’s was, especially to his teammates.”

Kuroo pointed out, “Well, the two of them did fight in front of the captain.”

Akaashi countered, “Yeah, but Tsukishima’s continuously taunting and mocking them. Seems like it’s not gonna work too well on a team either, right?”

Kuroo didn’t have a good enough counter for that, but Bokuto spoke up, “Hinata, why didn’t Tsukishima get punished?”

Hinata sheepishly smiled, “W-Well,” he was hit with a harsh glare from Kageyama, causing him to quiet down.

He could read the setter’s eyes, though.  _ He said it to us. Were you about to say that it was because of me? _

Hinata thought to himself,  _ Yep. Absolutely. _

**_“Faster!”_ ** **Kageyama’s younger voice rang through his mind, bouncing off the walls of his skull forcefully.**

**He could imagine it perfectly. It’d played out in his head enough that he knew the day better than the back of his hand. The stickiness of his palms, the disheartened looks on his teammates, the arrogant smirks on the opponent’s faces, all of it. It was all clear to him.**

**_His teammate hopped up, doing his best to get to the ball. His efforts weren’t in complete vain, as his fingers grazed it hard enough to send it over to the other side of the net, just far enough to be out of reach of the defenders._ **

**_“Quit messing around!” Kindaichi yelled at him with just as much vigor. “Your tosses are absolutely unreasonable! There’s no goddamn point if I can’t even hit the ball!”_ **

Even now, Kageyama wanted to counter, “But if we don’t break free of these blockers, we aren’t going win!” despite himself. He knew that it wasn’t the right course of action to take, and that he was different, but he still held some sort of resentment for them giving up finals just like that.

Luckily for him, he didn’t notice how the others in the room felt much calmer knowing that Kageyama wasn’t going to burst at some more of his past being shown.

Bokuto eyed the setter carefully, wondering,  _ I wonder if he’s gonna explode out of nowhere or something. _

To contrast, Akaashi casually watched, knowing that his current position meant that moving around frantically would likely result in either Kenma or Hinata being hit, something that Kageyama’s posture told Akaashi that he was well aware of his situation.

**_“Are we going to lose? Is this the end?” Kageyama asked himself, an inkling of doubt seeping into his thoughts, before he steeled himself with newfound determination. “No! I’m going to go to nationals!”_ **

**_In a matter of seconds, a flurry of demands rushed out of Kageyama’s mouth, “Move faster! Jump higher! Match your speed to my tosses! If you actually want to win this match, then do it!”_ **

**_Yet, his stance gave out. His tense shoulders slacked, hearing the sheer silence around him, watching as the disapproving looks his way slowly crushed him like a vice._ **

**Kageyama looked up at the ceiling, eyes hazy, staring off into something that wasn’t quite there.**

**“At the end of the first set, it was our opponent’s set point,” he recalled. “I put the ball up...but nobody was there.” His voice was quiet, reserved. It sounded nothing like the commanding figure that Kageyama seemed to always be.**

**“It wasn’t our first botched play of the day, of course,” Kageyama laughed dryly, the sound empty in his words. “But it wasn’t an accident, that’s for sure.”**

Bokuto stood up in his seat all of a sudden, seething as he barked, “What?!” He stuck his hands out to gesture towards the appalling words he’d heard, finding the mere fact that that sound had made it to his ears absolutely offensive.

Kuroo raised his eye, kicking his friend’s calf lightly, “What’s up?”

Oikawa started shaking slightly from annoyance, his hands clenched tightly into fists. He knew his knuckles were practically white from how hard he was clenching them, but he was pretty much only seeing red at the time.

“What a douche thing to do!” Hinata complained, a displeased look on his face.

Kageyama scoffed, “Not like I can change it now.”

Kenma raised an eyebrow, “What’s going on with those four now? I can literally see the fire bursting in their eyes. I’m getting a fever from the heat, and I’m literally just sitting here.”

Akaashi leaned over a little bit as the four gathered for their odd ritual of annoyance, casually explaining, “They gave up the finals because of how petty they were. I can sort of understand what they’re on right now.”

Kuroo stared at his best friend, mouth slightly parted in shock, yet understanding of everything that had happened. He’d be pretty piissed too if his classmates gave up a summative group project just because he’d said something snarky before.  _ It’d be their grade, too, and they’d just give it up ‘cause of me? _

Iwaizumi remained on the couch alongside Kuroo, yet felt the urge to join those who had stood up. After all, he could feel something similar. While he wasn’t as invested in (meaning absolutely addicted to) volleyball as they were, he still felt pride in having played it. He planned to go into something involving athletics, too, to the point where there would be some involvement in the sport.

_ What sort of idiot would give up a chance for nationals just because of that? _

**_That….that was a rejection._ **

**_“We won’t help you anymore.”_ **

**“That’s all they had to say to me,” Kageyama muttered, his voice quieter than a pin dropping.**

**_“Kageyama. Go sit on the bench already.”_ **

**Tsukishima huffed, snapping Kageyama out of his thoughts, “And you can’t use that quick anymore because that match left you scared, right?”**

**Tanaka, gruff as always, walked up as close as he could to the net without touching it, making the same face he always did to intimidate younger students, “You’ve been mouthing off for a while now, bastard.” Tsukishima simply smileed in that way that he did, always seeming too innocent to be true.**

“Yo, Hinata,” Kuroo interrupted suddenly, a pensive look on his face. “You know what caused Tsukishima to be like that, or has he not told ya?”

Hinata tilted his head, slowly registering the question as his eyes narrowed, staring into the ceiling, “Nope. How ‘bout you, Kageyama? Ever seen anything like that from Tsukishima that gives away anything?”

Kageyama clicked his tongue, leaning back with his hands on his head, “Not that I can think of. I don’t even think he’s talked to me without trying to insult me.” Hinata nodded, having had similar experiences with the tall first-year.

“Y’think Yamaguchi might know?” Hinata wondered out loud, saying it more to himself than Kageyama.

Oikawa snorted, “As if. He’s like Iwa-chan: Never talks unless to insult.”

In response, a vein popped up on the ace’s forehead as he smacked Oikawa’s head, “That only comes to you, idiot.”

**“Tanaka,” Daichi warned before something broke out. A tense silence filled the air.**

**Kageyama took a deep breath, “...yeah. The thought that everyone important in my life is gonna up and ditch me...that’s a whole new level of horrifying.” He looked away while he said it, but his words held a longing feeling to them.**

**A new silence entered the room, this time, one that seemed slightly awkward yet understandable.**

Kenma blinked; he didn’t really understand the concept of putting all your eggs in one basket, especially for a team sport.

Akaashi, on the other hand, could fully understand somehow, along with Kuroo. Being close friends with Bokuto, it was all the owl was ever interested in. Iwaizumi was in the same boat.

And of course, the other four in the room were already understanding of the boy’s words.

**“Huh?” Hinata broke the silence like there was nothing there. “But that’s just a story about your junior high, right?”**

**Directing the entire gym’s attention to himself, Hinata shrugged casually, “I dunno, but since you toss the ball to me properly, none of that stuff really matters to me.” His eyes were light and honest, sincerity in his voice, before turning into determination in both heart and voice.**

**“The only problem’s how we’re gonna knock him down!” He pointed vigorously at Tsukishima, causing Tanaka and Daichi to watch on in amusement, letting small smiles show. “We’re gonna beat him, start activities for real, and you’ll be a setter! That way, you’ll be able to toss to me! Is there anything else?!”**

Bokuto lightheartedly smiled, agreeing with Hinata, “Yeah. Yo, Kageyama, any other ways Hinata’s smarter than you?”

“H-He is not!”

“He totally is.”

“Yep, no doubt.”

“I’m smarter than you, Bakayama!”

“You guys suck,” Kageyama pouted, glaring at Oikawa in particular who was about to bring up documents that Kageyama himself probably didn’t know existed in terms of acting like a dumbass.

**Kageyama glared at him, a barbed comment on the tip of his tongue, his eyes speaking volumes. And by that, they were holding back the worst diatribe the entirety of Miyagi’s ever seen.**

**Tsukishima interrupted Hinata’s speech, his words laconic, “That sort of genuine, straight-forward emotion of yours...it irritiates me.”**

**He frowned, his ambivalent expression morphing into a hint of anger, “You can’t fill in that gap with fighting spirit. If you think you’ll push through solely through effort, you’re gravely mistaken.”**

**As he jogged back to his place on the court, Daichi watched on, slightly confused about the sudden surge of emotion from Tsukishima.**

“Okay, that’s gotta be something,” Kuroo nodded. “No way he doesn’t like Hinata and Kageyama for no reason. He seems indifferent to Tanaka, and respectful of Daichi. He even has Yamaguchi as a friend. So what did you two do to make him hate you?”

Hinata hummed, “Well...I never thought about it where he hates me and Bakayama specifically...is it something we did wrong?”

Oikawa interrupted, deducing, “No, it couldn’t have beem something to change his behavior. He’s aggressive towards you now, practically when you guys first met. Maybe something about you two specifically?”

Kenma closed his eyes, thinking,  _ Hinata and Kageyama are different for some reason to Tsukishima. They’ve got something so off to them that Tsukishima can’t help but hate the two of them? But what is it? _

_ What’s so different about those two that nobody on the other team has? It can’t be friendship; the third-years on the team seem pretty dang close. Ability? No, Tsukishima’s not the type of person to dwell over that too long. _

“Kenma? You asleep?” Hinata interrupted, before noticing that his hand was on his chin. With a pointed look from Kuroo, he opened his mouth before nodding silently.

Kenma furrowed his eyebrow, biting his bottom lip,  _ It’s also not them being loud...Tanaka and Nishinoya can be far louder, from what I’ve heard of them. _

_ Wait a minute… _

Kenma slowly opened his eyes, only to be met with the silent looks from the rest of the room. He deduced right then and there that Kuroo had stopped their discussion for some reason.

“What’d you figure out?” Kuroo prompted, causing Kenma to glance off to the side as he found his words.

“Well...maybe it’s because they love volleyball more than anything?” Kenma voiced his thoughts. “I don’t think Tsukishima hates volleyball. If he hated it, he wouldn’t even put up with it for Yamaguchi; that’s not the type of person he is.

“The type of person he is, however, is someone who pays attention. Too much. I noticed it during our practice match, but seeing him here really shows it. He doesn’t like passionate people, because something happened to him, probably.”

Bokuto nodded, internally struggling to follow this train of logic, “How do you know?”

“Think about it. He doesn’t like Hinata pushing forward. He wouldn’t care about Hinata putting in more effort or becoming better than him, because Tsukishima clearly realizes that this is not something that’s going to end his life. He’s not Shouyou or you other three,” Kenma pointed out. “He must not like Hinata pushing forward because of some other reason. And if it’s not because of something that Hinata or Kageyama did…”

Akaashi connected the dots, “It’s something that someone close to him had done to him. It’s not Yamaguchi, since they’re still best friends. It’s something with Tsukishima himself that messed up his passion for stuff.”

Hinata and Kageyama’s eyes widened slightly, clearly not having thought about it from that perspective like that before, “But...why would Tsukishima still be playing volleyball, then?”

“Y’think he wants to enjoy it?” Bokuto prompted. “‘Cause I know that I used to play volleyball without loving it. That was before I had that moment.”

“Moment?” Iwaizumi repeated, urging him to continue.

“Well, yeah,” Bokuto nodded. “Remember, Akaashi? My straight shots?” The setter nodded. “I started really loving volleyball when I had that moment of ‘Hey, I’m doing this!’ I got past my blockers with straight shots, Hinata saw the Little GIant. Kageyama, Oikawa, you too have any of those moments?”

Kageyama nodded, thinking back. Oikawa spoke up, “Yeah. I met my favorite volleyball player, my role model. He’s why I became a setter today.”

Kenma bit the inside of his cheek, “You think Tsukishima’s gonna have that moment?”

Bokuto shrugged, “I’m just saying it might be the case. Just don’t try to force him to have the moment, you feel?” At this point, he was just advising Hinata and Kageyama.

The two of them nodded.

“Good.”

**As the two teams got back into positions, Tsukishima calmly served the ball over.**

**Tanaka called out, “Got it!” As he received the ball, sending it in Kageyama’s direction.**

**“Toss it to me!” Both of them called out, signalling to Kageyama as they started their run-up.**

**_Which do I toss to?_ ** **Kageyama wondered, glancing at both of them before looking at the ball slowly coming to him.** **_Hinata can’t win against Tsukishima alone yet...Tanaka-san’s almost certainly the better option…_ **

**“Tanaka-sa--” Kageyama began, raising his hands for the set, before he heard a determined call.**

**“Kageyama!” Hinata’s voice echoed through his ears.** **_There...was nobody there._ ** **Yet, as if he read his mind, he blasted out, “I’m right here!”**

**To respond, Kageyama, out of instinct, tossed the ball to Hinata, leading the boy to swing his arm to sync with the set.**

**It almost missed, but it made enough contact to make it over to the other side of the net.**

“Now  _ that  _ was anticlimactic,” Kenma teased, causing Hinata to flush.

Akaashi nodded, “I thought it would’ve been like this...huge wave of emotion with like some unbelievable music and end up with a gigantic hit, you know?”

Kageyama snorted, “I cannot believe I thought that was a good idea then.”

**As gravity started to drag Hinata back down, he whispered in awe, “It actually made it over! And there was this rush of air…”**

**_It was still out._ **

“Did you really not realize what’d happened?”

“H-Hey! It got over the net!”

**Kageyama, flustered and shocked, whirled around on Hinata, “You really tried--”**

**“But I was right there to receive the ball!” Hinata interrupted, hitting Kageyama with a harsh look. “I don’t care about any of that stuff from junior high!”**

**The other students looked at Hinata with a shocked expression as he let his emotions flow through him, “I’ll take any ball you can set to me. Gratefully! I’ll jump anywhere. I’ll hit the ball anywhere.”**

**He put a hand on his heart, earnestly speaking, “So...toss the ball to me!”**

As the commercial break rolled on, Kageyama pursed his lips, “I was gonna toss it to you anyways. I already did.”

“But you wouldn’t’ve if I didn’t say anything,” Hinata teased in a sing-song voice.

Kuroo hummed, “Imagine if you had something this dramatic happen because of volleyball.”

Kenma groaned, “I’d be too tired to go on after the first day.”

“No you wouldn’t.”

“Yes I would.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Yuh-huh.”

**Sugawara stared on, his face passive,** **_I was certain that Kageyama was going to toss to Tanaka right then, but…_ ** **The memory of Hinata soaring in the air with a commanding leap came into his head.** **_But he instinctively responded to Hinata’s voice and motion instead…_ **

**His eyes slightly widened as the two glared at each other,** **_For now, it’s mainly Kageyama’s attitude that’s a problem...but I guess he’s pretty awesome, after all._ **

Kageyama didn’t know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult. 

Hinata thought it could be both, but mainly focused on the insult part just to tease the setter.

**Tanaka interrupted the sudden staring contest the two were holding, shouting right into their ears, “Wait, you guys know how to do quick attacks?!”**

**Hinata blinked, “Quick attacks?”**

“Shrimpy, did you really not know what one of those were? I thought you read up on the rules and terms and all that.”

“I-It’s not my fault, Grand King! I-It just wasn’t covered in the library books that I got where I could read up on it…”

Iwaizumi spoke up, “A phone, maybe?” He knew damn well that the technology of today’s time was advanced enough for Hinata to have Google on his phone, thus letting him search up anything volleyball-related whenever he pleased.

**Tanaka shook his head, getting rid of the temporary shock, “‘A fast attack, like the one you two just did!”**

**Hinata hummed, thinking back, “Not at all. All I remember spiking were balls that were tossed real high.” He made a spiking motion to emphasize his point.**

**Tanaka held an absolutely astonished look, “But...you just did it?” He said it like it was a question, hands looking like claws subconsciously for some reason, like there was some unknown emotion being evoked from it.**

**A flashback to when Hinata hit the messed up set from Izumi came onto the screen, “And when you hit that set from that beginner setter!”**

**Hinata only tilted his head, confused, “Huh? I don’t remember how I did that. I just...did.”**

**He shook his head, getting back on track, “But I’ll spike any ball, no matter what!”**

“I’m assuming y’know what a quick attack is now?” Kuroo teased with a playful smirk on his face, directing it towards the first-year duo.

Hinata scratched the back of his head, pouting, “W-Well, duh! Daichi-san drilled it into our heads like, a day or two after the three-on-three!”

Kageyama nodded, “Yeah, but he brought Sugawara with, because Suga was willing to actually talk us through it instetad of repeating the same thing over and over. He’s probably gonna become a teacher with that sort of patience, honestly.”

Oikawa scowled, thinking,  _ Of course he is, Mr. Refreshing… _

Iwaizumi had no idea what the sudden negative expression was for.

**He turned to Kageyama, pointing incredibly close to his face, “I’ll spike whatever you set to me, got it?!”**

**Kageyama looked at Hinata for a bit past the finger, before looking away, slightly flustered and awkward, “We’ve never gotten coordinated. A fast attack’s pretty much impossible.”**

**Hinata’s jaw fell to the floor, lightning bolts of confusion appearing behind him as his brain began to fry.**

**_Impossible? Does this guy know what impossible means?_ **

Oikawa snorted, “With Kageyama, you never really know what he knows and doesn’t know.”

Kageyama defended himself with an indignant stomp, “I know a lot of stuff! Probably more than you!”

Kuroo blurted out, “What does PEMDAS stand for?”

“Pem-what?” Kageyama seemed taken aback, while Hinata tried to keep his cool and seem like he knew it. He really didn’t, but nobody but him had to know that.

“Never mind.”

**Out of nowhere, Hinata spread his legs a little bit to establish a stronger base, although while getting lower in the process.**

**He declared, “You freak me out! Your weakness is giving me the creeps! Stop it!”**

**“Shut up.”**

Bokuto smiled a little in amusement, “Subtle.”

Akaashi gently smiled in return, “As if you’re much better, Bokuto-san.”

Kuroo nodded in agreement, “Yeah, if anything, you’re worse, bro.”

**Hinata pouted, somewhat letting go of it as he crossed his arms.**

**However, Tsukishima decided that now would be the best time to reignite that annoyance, “That’s not very much like you, King.”**

**Hinata’s shoulders tensed, barking (which didn’t sound like barking given his slightly higher-than-average pitched voice), “I’ll spike it right past you! Just wait and see, got it?!”**

**Tsukishima smirked, huffing arrogantly, “There you go again, getting all angry like that.”**

“He’s so looking down on him.”

“No doubt.”

“Yep.”

“H-Hey! It’s not that easy to look down on me!”

“Literally speaking, you are.”

Hinata pouted, whispering under his breath, “Poopyheads.”

Kenma lightly snickered beside him, “Did you really just call us that?”

Hinata stuck his tongue out, “Yeah, ‘cause you are.”

**Tsukishima leered down at him, leaning down to emphasize his point, “Getting angry isn’t going to do anything, you know.”**

**He put a hand on his hip, absentmindedly waving his hand to signify some sort of magical presence, “Some people just aren’t cut out for some things. And clearly, you’re not cut out to be a spiker.”**

**Hinata’s eyes widened, a flurry of emotions flashing through his eyes, all in a tornado of uncertainty, like his thoughts were genuinely unknown for those few seconds.**

**Tanaka held a fist up, his neck veins popping out, as well as a vein on his forehead, almost ready to throw out all his morals and desire to be an upperclassman who was unshakable. This, to him, was going way too far.**

Most of the people in the room felt the same way. Kageyama, who hadn’t heard him say that to Hinata directly, felt his hands clench into tight fists, almost ready to bust the door open to confront Tsukishima right then and there.

He grabbed Hinata by his shirt, shaking him aggressively, “He told you that and you didn’t tell me?! Why?!”

Hinata blinked, seriously curious about why he was so angry, “Uhh...I didn’t know you that well and you didn’t like me?” Even as his head bobbed, he was trying to reorient himself to see how the rest of the room was doing, letting Kageyama do his thing.

Kuroo felt a sour taste in his mouth; he’d really thought Tsukishima was just rude sometimes, and that even he had a limit.

Clearly, at least from what he’d been seeing, that wasn’t the case. 

Iwaizumi didn’t even stop Oikawa from going on a fifteen-page essay ranting about why that was wrong and how much of a piece of shit thing that was to say, and on some points, even made his own points of agreement.

Akaashi and Bokuto stayed silent, dumbfounded by the severity of the statement.

Kenma frowned,  _ Okay, there is literally no way I’m wrong in that. He’s definitely got some weird ass stuff in the past that he’s not going to bring up, and I don’t think anyone but Yamaguchi knows. The kid’s probably sworn to secrecy, too. _

_ Plus, why would he be so mean to Shouyou if he only met him yesterday? There’s no reason for that, honestly. _

_ That being said, he is pretty rude to Yamaguchi sometimes, and he’s his best friend. Maybe I’m wrong. _

**He started taking steps towards Tsukishima, still silent but gritting his teeth while holding a fist up.**

**Daichi had to grab onto his arm to restrain him, though feeling very similar feelings to the spiker.**

**Tanaka only relented after Hinata spoke up again, frustration seeping into his voice with every word, “That’s true.” He looked up at the blond, the size difference made only more obvious from the camera angle. “Even when I was in junior high, I would jump and jump, but keep getting blocked.”**

Nobody dared to interrupt the T.V; they were too invested in the scene to speak up, especially after the sudden, unexpected burst of maturity from Hinata.

**A memory of Kageyama and Kindaichi in their Kitagawa Daiichi days came to mind, “Height is needed for volleyball. No matter how tall I jump, I can’t get past and just naturally beat their overwhelming height.”**

It felt weird, seeing Hinata speak so vulnerably like this.

While he wasn’t necessarily as commanding or a pillar of strength like Ushijima, he was a powerhouse in a different way. To them, it never seemed like anything could knock Hinata down, like nothing could shake him. Sure, defeats could land a blow on him, but they wouldn’t ever leave too long a mark, since he’d just take it on the chin and keep going.

Hearing him talk about his weaknesses and acknowledge them like this felt so intimate, even though Hinata didn’t think it was in the slightest. He just thought it was simple fact.

**An image of the Little Giant came into Hinata’s head, soaring high with his right arm in the air, looking at the ball come towards him faithfully like a loyal dog.**

**“But I know that I want to become someone who can,” Hinata looked fiercely at Tsukishima, who’d seemed a little annoyed at his determination. “So I don’t care if I’m cut out for it or not.”**

**He gripped the front of his shirt, the words “Karasuno High School” wrinkling a little bit from the sudden grip, declaring confidently, “So I’m going to fight in this body, and I’m going to win and win, and I’m going to stay on the court as long as possible!”**

**Suddenly, Kageyama whipped his head around, hearing those oh-so familiar words.**

“Oh, so this is where you two finally stop absolutely hating each other’s guts for real,” Kuroo realized, putting his thumb on his bottom lip. “I was wondering when that was officially going to happen.”

**_A memory of Kageyama being told to sit on the bench from his coach instantly came to mind._ **

**_Another flash of Hinata being directed back to his team after he lost the game from Izumi._ **

**Hinata pursed his lips into a thin line, remembering the way that** **_his shoulders shook in frustration, holding back the tears of defeat in silence._ **

**_No...I want to be...on the court...as long as I can!_ **

**Those words rang deep within both of their hearts, a pang deep within their souls and fighting spirits.**

Bokuto and Oikawa felt that same pang of frustration, that desire and connectio calling them back to the court.

**Tsukishima sighed, bored as always, Hinata’s entire rant not getting through to him in the slightest, “Yeah, but you just don’t have what it takes. It’s not a matter of willpower. You’re short. That’s it. If you were a libero, it might be a different story.”**

Kenma blinked, “That’s it? Seriously? That entire rant and that’s all he had to say?” There was genuine surprise in his voice, like he was expecting Tsukishima to have some new points to bring up, something to back up what he was saying before.

“I guess he’s too good for something so beneath him as listening to the other side,” Oikawa sneered, leaning back in his seat while crossing one leg over the other.

**Kageyama, hearing Tsukishima speak, heard Hinata’s voice in his head, “Toss to me! I’m right here!” remembering his mid-air form, looking at Kageyama desperately for the ball.**

**He took on a passive look, deeply exhaling, before walking up to where Hinata was, the waxed gym floor squeaking underneath his steps, “To break the wall in front of the spiker...that’s the setter’s job.” Hinata stared at him, eyes slightly widening as his mouth parted in surprise.**

“Okay, Socrates,” Kenma muttered. “Being a setter’s not that awesome, relax.”

Oikawa stuck his tongue out, “I beg to differ.”

Kenma deadpanned, “Then beg.”

Oikawa gasped dramatically, “Iwa-chan! Help me!” He turned to look at his best friend, only to find him trying to hide his laughter as best he could.

**The rest of the gym looked on curiously, never expecting Kageyama to give in like that, especially with what they knew about him.**

“If only you kept up that streak of not being mean,” Hinata pouted, crossing his arms as he sulked. Akaashi raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to elaborate, though subconsciously felt that it’d be shown real soon. He wasn’t the type of person to ask questions when the answers were about to be laid out in front of him on the T.V, anyways.

**Suddenly, he grabbed Hinata’s shoulders, dragging him to the edge of the volleyball court, before slamming his palm down onto Hinata’s head, leaning in to whisper.**

**“Oy, calm down, Kageyama!” Tanaka began, lightly jogging towards the two to break up any potential fighting. He put a hand up to interrupt whatever they were talking about, before listening in.**

**“Listen,” Kageyama ordered. “If you can’t spike it, avoid it. Use every ounce of physical ability you have. Got it? Use your reflexes and spike my tosses.”**

**Tanaka balked, “That’s how you explain a quick attack?!”**

**“Got it.”**

“Of course he does,” Kuroo snorted. “Volleyball freaks, the two of them.”

Bokuto clicked his tongue, “No, no, I get it.”

Oikawa blinked, “Okay, normally I’d agree with the three of you, but what the hell’s going on with that? I have no idea how any of that relates to a quick attack.”

Iwaizumi facepalmed, groaning, “That’s ‘cause what they said can be directed to literally anything else in volleyball that involves spiking.”

**“No, you don’t! That’s a lie!”**

**“We’re gonna do it anyways!” Hinata and Kageyama declared at the same time, turning around to face Tanaka.**

Kageyama groaned.

Kenma raised an eyebrow, “What’s it this time?”

“It sounded so cool before we did it,” Hinata pouted, putting his head in his hand as he looked away, remembering what happened next.

**Tanaka sneered, leering at Kageyama with an accusatory finger, “What’s gotten into you all of a sudden? Like, five seconds ago, you were just sniveling like a depressed little brat.”**

Kuroo smirked, “No, that’d be Hinata losing to Kageyama.”

“H-Hey!”

**Kageyama’s shoulders tensed as he anxiously defended himself, “I-I’m not depressed.”**

**“Liar!”**

**As the teams began to reset themselves, getting ready for the next rally, Hinata stretched out his right arm, doing arm circles while holding his shoulder with his left hand, “Alright, let’s do this!”**

**Kageyama watched him, analyzing him carefully,** **_I already know that with this guy’s reflexes and speed, he can spike a pretty fast toss._ **

“Now if only that was actually true,” Kageyama roughly smacked Hinata’s back with a smirk on his face.

“I’m going to do that soon enough, just you wait! I’m gonna spike so fast you can’t catch up!” Hinata determined, glaring directly into Kageyama’s eyes.

“Doesn’t that mean you’ll just miss the ball?” Oikawa mused, rolling his eyes.

**The other second-years along with Sugawara watched on quietly, eyes glued to the court.**

**_All right! C’mon, toss it to me!_ ** **Hinata’s heart pounded anxiously, feeling his hands slightly clammy in anticipation.** **_Let the ball come anywhere!_ **

**Kageyama watched him, his previous calculating expression turning into a deadpan, like there was nothing to watch. To him, it felt like he was watching the D.V.D logo bounce off the walls of the T.V itself.**

**“Tsukki, nice serve!” He heard Yamaguchi encourage in the background, though he was too focused on something else to care.**

**_We’ve never talked about signals before, but what the heck…_ ** **Kageyama racked his brain, before finally deciding to subtly point to Hinata’s right twice, causing the shorter boy to nod vigorously.**

**_Cool! He’s tossing there!_ **

“I think anyone could’ve figured that out, even someone like Hinata,” Kenma smiled lightly, looking at the orangette with a teasing glint in his eyes.

“W-What do you mean ‘Even someone?!’ What’s that supposed to mean?!” Hinata flushed, cheeks red in embarrassment as he lightly shook Kenma, still aware of the boy’s disdain for shaking around (or any sudden movement, really).

Kenma smirked slightly, a little bit of bite to his words, “Maybe you should study up on your vocab, Shou. Might be getting a bit rusty. Not like there’s much to rust on, anyways.”

Kuroo rolled his eyes, amused at the whole scene; he’d imagined this was what it was like, looking from the outside and seeing Kenma and him talk, where Kuroo would say something and Kenma could come about with a thousand different comebacks whenever he wanted.

That being said, he couldn’t say he’d want to be in Hinata’s position right now, where anything he said could literally be used against him.

**As Tsukishima (limply) served the ball over the net, Hinata got into position patiently,** **_Good. This one’s weaker than Auntie Yoshida’s,_ ** **remembering the lady in middle school who’d allowed him to practice with the team.**

**Gently sending it over ot Kageyama, he sprinted up to the net, planning out his course of attack,** **_Then, I jump like this --_ **

**Yet, before he’d even reached the apex of his jump, the ball had soared right past him, his hand not even high enough to reach even if he wanted to.**

**He landed, his arms still behind him like a crow’s wings, legs stuck together like a gymnast elegantly landing. As Hinata watched the ball bounce and slowly roll off to the side, He blinked in surprise.**

**_It’s that fast?_ **

**“Hey!” Kageyama began to reprimand, a fire in his eyes. “What are you doing?! You need to be--” He stopped himself, all anger and emotion draining from his face as his voice vanished, eyes turning into concern and worry.**

_ So he is learning,  _ Oikawa hummed.  _ I knew that there was some difference during our practice and official match, but I didn’t think that he’d willingly do it… _

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue,  _ So this is what being called the King had done to him. I wonder what he’d thought about it the entire month off of school. _

**As if he’d planned it out beforehand, Tsukishima bit like a snake waiting for the perfect ambush, “And there it is, ladies and gentlemen. The King’s toss, right before your eyes!” He put his hands up to his mouth to amplify his volume, eyes lidded lazily like he’d done it a thousand times before, as if he could do it in his sleep.**

**Kageyama scowled at him, defending, “It’s hard to get it right the first time!”**

The other setters in the room nodded, “Definitely true.”

Kuroo blinked, “I thought you just sorta set, didn’t you, Kenma?”

Bokuto spoke up, “Yeah, Akaashi, how do you set? What’s your style, anyways?!”

Iwaizumi grunted, not willing to admit his curiosity out loud, “Yeah, dumbass, didn’t you struggle to set to Matsukawa before, too?”

The respective setters blinked, not sure what sparked this sudden curiosity in their own setting styles. Hinata and Kageyama only didn’t speak because they already bickered about setters vs. spikers on the daily, if not by the hour.

“I mean…” Kenma mumbled, suddenly finding himself unable to properly find the words. “It’s not like I just set. I have to try to think about how everyone likes hitting, you know? That stuff gets hard after I try to make a strategy mid-game and then Lev messes everything up.”

Akaashi hummed, not sure how to completely answer, “Whatever the team needs. I don’t know how to make everyone a god all of a sudden, so I just try to focus on how to make what’s needed to be good. It’s like Nekoma’s defense, but for offense.”

Oikawa nodded to his ace, “Yeah, but I eventually got the hang of it. It took a while to get used to Kunimi’s, since he didn’t really put 100%, so I had to keep trying to adapt to him during practice. It doesn’t go perfectly, though.”

Everyone nodded their heads, agreeing not to ask about Karasuno’s duo. After all, they bet it’d be shown right in front of them.

**Sugawara slightly narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips in thought, his arms crossed. His expression stayed neutral, but the gears in his head were turning.**

**Yet another toss went up, and Hinata missed again.**

**The third time wasn’t so bad. He was able to get his hand on the ball, his fingers just barely sending it over the net…**

**Until he crashed into the net itself, becoming tangled to the point where the Gordian Knot would feel jealous just from looking at Hinata in that predicament.**

Not even Iwaizumi could keep the chuckle from escaping him.

Hinata’s jaw fell to the floor, hearing them, “I-It’s not that funny, guys!”

“It really is!”

Hinata pouted, “You guys are meanies. And I know you’re covering your face, Kenma, but I can still feel you shaking!”

**As Tanaka helped untangle Hinata, he had his hands hanging as he groaned, “I can’t time it right at all,” mouth looking like it was about to break out in violent sobs.**

**Kageyama smacked him on the back of the head, “You’ve got fast reflexes, so you have to use them like ‘bah’ or ‘gwah!’”**

**Hinata retorted with just as much fire, “Bah or gwah?! Which one is it?!”**

**Tanaka grunted, joining the argument, “That’s not the important part!”**

“Yes it is!” Hinata and Kageyama blurted out together.

Hinata finished it off, “Bah or Gwah helps me decide how I should jump!”

Akaashi blinked, “How do you tell the difference?”

**Another calm voice joined, far more serene than the three arguing boys, “Kageyama.” They turned to see Sugawara leaning down to pick up the volleyball, which’d rolled its way over to his feet.**

**He held the ball in his right hand, before looking directly at the other setter, “You’re doing exactly what you did in junior high.”**

**Hinata and Kageyama turned their bodies towards him in unison, their synchronization in that respect somewhat freaking him out, “U-Uh…”**

“How are you two literally the exact same when it comes to everything except the one thing you want to be synchronized in most?” Oikawa narrowed his eyes at the two suspiciously. He knew there was something odd about those two; they were both freaks of nature with unlimited amounts of energy, but there was something else.

“No, we aren’t!” They both defended themselves as they got up from their seats, the same offended tone to their voice, before turning to each other. “Stop copying me!”

“Sure you aren’t,” Kenma lightly teased, lightly nudging Hinata’s elbow.

**Kageyama casually pointed at Hinata, “He’s got the reflexes, speed, and jumping power. If he gets used to it, he should be really good at quick attacks.”**

“So...how did you expect him to get used to it?” Akaashi seriously questioned, wondering whether or not that plan of attack would end up working.

“Well, if we practiced enough, he’d probably think of something. Besides, if I gave him the best tosses possible that his body could use, he’d eventually get the hang of it if he just messed up so much that he’d find the right thing to do,” Kageyama shrugged. “I mean, I don’t think that now, but I think it’d be the most surefire way to end up getting someone to their peak. Just would take quite a while.”

“Not ideal when you wanna improve something quickly, though, since you can’t really just tell him to do it when,” Kenma hummed, putting his knees up to his chest as he rolled himself up into a ball with his hoodie covering him.

**Sugawara countered, his face still stern, “But Hinata’s weapon, his speed...don’t you think your toss is sort of killing that?”**

**Kageyama straightened up, trying to understand what that meant in depth.**

**“The thing is, Hinata’s got no experience or technique,” Sugawara explained as he spun the ball around in his head a few times. Hinata sulked a little bit at that, jaw going slack.**

**“Sugawara-san,” Hinata feebly groaned.**

**“He’s not this outstanding player who can match your ability at the push of a button,” he continued, causing the younger boy to hang his head without the grey-haired setter even getting a hint of it.**

**“However, his potential’s top-notch,” Sugawara kept going, Hinata instantly straightening, feeling flattered all of a sudden.**

**“O-Oh, I’m not a genius or something like that!” He stuttered nervously, shaking his hand at the mere thought of it.**

**“Nobody called you that,” Tanaka quickly shot him down.**

“What I will call you, though, is a freak,” Kenma rolled his eyes at the energetic boy in front of him. “30 minutes a day? Really?”

“Plus, you aren’t even that smart in real life,” Oikawa smirked. “Not Tobio’s level, but still pretty bad.”

Akaashi hummed, “What skills do you have, anyways? I remember Kenma telling me that you can cook pretty well, but is there anything outside of that?”

Hinata hummed, thinking heavily as his furrowed eyebrows went along with his focused eyes, deep in thought.

“That’s Hinata for ‘No,’” Kageyama filled them in.

“Hey!”

**His voice stayed calm, cool, and collected as he began to advise, “Well, if you can do it…” His voice faded off, before stutters broke out and hush and waved around frantically, like he was hoping that Kageyama would just get the message.**

**“Like, y-you need to s-synch with Hinata’s style or his talent, or…um…” his hand went out a little further as he searched for how to speak again.**

**“Suga-san, fight!” Tanaka urgently whispered to him, hoping that’d be a morale boost.**

**The setter perked up a little bit, dragging his voice out of his throat, “You know, use them to your advantage, somehow!”**

Oikawa bit the inside of his cheek, crossing his leg over the other and hummed in discontent. He leaned his head a little downwards, eyes still glued to the T.V.

_ Not how I’d think of it, honestly. It’s the attacker who’s got all the leadership in the air, not the setter. _

Kenma, on the other hand, tilted his head a little bit, _Use them to_ _my_ _advantage? Isn’t it my job to help them get their disadvantages out of the way so they can just spike?_ Unlike Oikawa, however, Kenma didn’t have any additional body signals to indicate his thought process.

**Kageyama raised his eyebrows lightly, eyes now completely focused on the vice-captain, who put a finger on his chin to recall correctly.**

**_A flashback came, where Sugawara had his hands gripped on the metal railing in front of him, Daichi with his arms crossed to his left and Tanaka leaning his head onto the railing from the bleachers, watching the game closely in front of them._ **

**_Sugawara’s eyes were wide open, mouth slightly open in awe,_ ** **“I remember watching you in last year’s match, and you were...intimidating, to say the least.”** **_He watched Kageyama casually set the ball to the exact same place he wanted, every single time without fail._ **

“Watching it now,” Akaashi had a bit more emotion to his voice than before. “It’s different than seeing it in-game, because you don’t really focus on it. But seeing it on the T.V? That’s...almost superhuman.”

“What is?” Kageyama blinked, not getting what he was referring to.

“How do you get the ball like that?” Kenma asked, earnest in his curiosity. “I can’t toss with that much consistency. Usually it falls a little bit short after I set and try to set to there again.”

Kageyama clicked his tongue, “I just sort of...do?” He shook his head, knowing how stupid of an answer that sounded like. “I mean...I dunno, honestly. I just sort of see how far I have to toss it, and then toss it. I...don’t toss to a person, I think. I toss to a place where I think they should hit.”

Oikawa blinked; he hadn’t really thought of it like that. He’d always thought of it as tossing  for  someone to hit, not tossing to  where  they hit.

“That’s weird,” Kenma mumbled, seemingly content with the answer.

**“By your extraordinary talent, your ball control,”** **_Kageyama tossed the ball yet again, never wavering, almost parallel to the net so it wasn’t too close, just where he wanted it to be._ ** **“And most of all…”**

**_Hinata jumped up in the air, ready to stop Kageyama._ **

**_Yet, less than a second later, he redirected the target of his toss._ **

**“The ability to quickly detect your opponent’s movements, and your power to make decisions right off the bat.”**

Kenma shuddered lightly. He knew he had the ability to detect his opponent’s movements; it was what contributed most to his strategizing. But making decisions like that right off the bat? Not something he’d do.

Akaashi, on the other hand, also knew what it felt like to detect your opponent’s movements. However, it was mainly limited to where the opponents were standing and jumping. It wasn’t something as analytical as Kenma’s, which was a trade-off, considering how he’d typically stick to the plan without too much flexibility.

That being said, it usually worked well enough that he didn’t have to be flexible.

**_Kageyama calmly got into position, setting right where Kindaichi was jumping, though a bit too fast for him to keep up._ **

**“I…” Sugawara began, looking slightly down at the ground. “I don’t have any of those awesome things that you do.”**

**Tanaka held a fist up to correct him, “That’s not true, Suga-sa--” Daichi sent him a glare.**

**“Tanaka, listen to what he has to say.”**

“Ah, listening. A skill lost among the youth,” Kuroo wistfully whispered to himself, looking up at the ceiling as if remembering the 70+ years that he hadn’t lived out yet.

**Suga put the volleyball under his armpit, listing off with his fingers, “You’ve got technique, and you’ve got nearly unrivalled enthusiasm.” He glanced at Hinata for a moment. “Most importantly, you have an extraordinary awareness of your surroundings.”**

**Kageyama blinked, as if not getting the point.**

**Suga’s eyes became determined, voice more serious, “So there’s just no way that you can’t be aware of what your teammate is doing.”**

**He lightly tossed the ball to Kageyama, who caught it with ease.**

“I mean, he is blind to anything except volleyball,” Akaashi quietly mused, a gentle smile on his face.

“You could say that about half of the room here,” Kenma whispered back to him, rolling his eyes in amusement. “And we’re sitting next to two of them, anyways.”

Akaashi stretched out his arms a little bit, yawning as he did so, “That being said...I can’t really say I’m not a volleyball freak myself, in a way. I think about it a lot whenever I’m not doing schoolwork or other stuff like that.”

“But is it to their degree?” Kenma prompted, causing his fellow setter to instantly shake his head.

“Touché.”

**Kageyama stared at it for a moment with a face with as little emotion as a fish, before a lightning bolt struck in his head,** **_Somehow use them to my advantage?_ **

**He remembered Hinata’s words, “But the ball got tossed to me!”** **_What do those things even mean?_ **

**For a few more seconds, he continued staring at the ball, before his intense stare suddenly fell onto Hinata.**

**The shorter boy turned towards Tanaka for a moment, as if concerned. The second-year shrugged, arms staying crossed, though a curious expression sneaking its way onto his face.**

**Suddenly, Kageyama stated, “I envy your athletic reflexes. But you waste all of your talent. And that absolutely infuriates me!”**

Hinata felt like he was on a rollercoaster of pride and sorrow, hearing the compliment being followed up instantly with a remark about his incompetence.

Oikawa didn’t know how to feel about that either. What would be said about him, if he were in Hinata’s situation? Faced with something so foreign to him, yet something involving volleyball? How would he feel about that?

**He pointed at him, causing the middle blocker to feel like he was being honed in on with iron sights, “So I’m going to use all of your abilities.”**

Bokuto pursed his lips, leaning forward to face the two, “Okay, what is it with you guys and pointing so aggressively? I could swear I’ve seen you two point like this like...four times in this episode alone!”

Kageyama pointed at himself casually, but the way his hand look, the muscles were flexed and his forearms were absolutely ripped in the same way it’d look if he would fight a crocodile, “Me?” His voice still remained casual, and the fact that everything else in his arm was still normal and not flexed was a literal mystery.

“See?! You’re doing it right now!” Bokuto balked, jaw hitting the floor at seeing it in action.

Kageyama looked down at his arm, before tilting his head, “I don’t get it. What’s wrong?”

Kuroo cleared his throat, “Allow me to observe.”

He pointed at himself. A perfectly normal forearm. No flexing, no hand muscles looking like they were on steroids, none of that. It was just a normal point.

“See?”

“Oh, I thought that was just something that some people had and some people didn’t,” Kageyama slowly whispered, seeing some of the others in the room point at themselves to see whether or not they were like Kageyama. They weren’t.

“Weird.”

**Hinata looked at Tanaka for a moment who shrugged before redirecting his attention to Kageyama, “Huh?”**

**He narrowed his eyes, his shirt slightly folding over itself like sitting down with a zipped-up hoodie as he tightened the grip on the volleyball, “Use your fastest speed, and use your highest jump.**

**“I will bring the ball to you,” Kageyama spoke as if it was a declaration of war.**

**Hinata slightly tilted his head, “Bring the ball to me? What’s that mean?”**

“Okay, I can’t even blame him for not understanding that,” Kageyama plainly stated, cracking his knuckles absentmindedly. “I don’t think I’d understand that, or especially what I was trying to do, during my first official practice.”

Hinata groaned gratefully, “Thank god, I’ve been trying to tell you that for forever! You kept saying that even a baby could understand it, but now?” He smirked teasingly, leaning towards Kageyama to get in his face a little.

Kageyama shoved his best friend away, mumbling, “Fine, fine, you were right.”

**“Just get to where there’s no blocker at your absolute fastest, and jump,” Kageyama quickly explained, Sugawara watching curiously from the sidelines. “Then spike with all your might.”**

**The camera directed at his face, which was twisted in all sorts of ways to make him incredibly serious, “You don’t have to watch my toss. And you don’t have to synch with the ball either.”**

**“Huh? But if I don’t see the ball, I’ll end up spiking air,” Hinata countered, surprised.**

**“Maybe so,” Kageyama began.**

**“Hey!”**

**“But I want to try this,” Kageyama confidently declared.**

**Hinata’s pensive expression steeled into a hardened one, a prepared one that was ready for anything, “Got it.”**

“I had no idea he’d take it so literally,” Kageyama groaned. “I said not to watch the ball, not to make yourself blind for the entire jump. What if you hit the net?!”

“Well, how often has that happened?” Hinata countered, getting in Kageyama’s face again. “Tell me how many times!”

Kageyama didn’t have a counter, just rolling his eyes and avoiding the question, “Hey! That’s not what I was talking about!”

“Then what did you want me to do then?!”

Kuroo blinked, “You’re telling me that the first thought that popped up was to close your eyes? Not look for where to hit it, or whether or not the place you were hitting was open?” He rubbed his hands together, before clasping his fingers. “That sounds kind of...unnatural.”

Bokuto nodded, “Yeah, why not just look at the other side of the court? That seems way easier than closing your eyes and hitting the net.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hinata pouted, realizing how illogical that decision was.

**“What’s he gonna do this time?” Tsukishima crooned, tilting his nose up, high in the air again. “It’s not like anyone can hit the King’s toss anyways.”**

**Yamaguchi continued his friend’s words, “Yeah, no kidding,” though the expression on his face said everything other than confidence in Tsukishima’s statement.**

“Yamaguchi always seems so nice!” Hinata squawked, poking Kageyama’s cheek. “You think Tsukishima affects him like this?”

“Sometimes,” Kageyama blandly stated. “And sometimes Yamaguchi just acts like Yamaguchi even when he’s around. It’s kinda weird-ish.”

**Sugawara watched them get into place, his expression unchanging,** **_What’s he going to try to do? There’s no way that Hinata could handle the same tosses he’s been getting._ **

**Kageyama heard Yamaguchi cheerfully chirp, “Nice serve! Another point!” However, internally, he didn’t register it. Instead, he took a deep inhale, closing his eyes and staying in that position for a few moments.**

**He felt his heartbeat, and the camera focused on his closed eyes for a moment, each of his eyelashes in focus before he opened his eyes, irises clear as day, all anger drained from them. They slowly made their way to the other court, watching them.**

**_What incredible concentration,_ ** **Tanaka analyzed, watching his on-guard stance.**

“I don’t know how you guys can focus that much.”

“‘Cause volleyball’s awesome!”

“We know that you think that volleyball’s awesome, Shou.”

**As Daichi carefully served, Kageyama’s eyes honed in, like a heat-seeking missile.**

**_Watch. Watch!_ ** **He told himself, his eyes peering around to his sides and peripherals. Suddenly, it felt like he was in an out-of-body experience.**

**_Where are the blockers?_ ** **A shot of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi came up, ready to jump and block the spike.** **_Where’s the ball?_ ** **A short moment of the ball soaring slightly over the net came up.** **_Where’s the spiker?_ ** **Tanaka receiving the ball came onto view, with Hinata running up to the net.**

Nobody spoke in the room; their eyes were glued to the screen, to the point where even Kenma was slightly leaning forward as he watched.

**_How will they move?_ ** **Hinata’s foot pounding onto the court came next. The net, right after for just a moment.** **_Where will they jump?_ ** **A shot of Hinata running up to the net with a determined expression, arms tense by his sides as he ran up.**

**_How high can he jump?_ ** **The image of Hinata running up faded into white, before zoning in on Kageyama, who had a reflection of Hinata’s run-up position in his eyes.**

**_Now!_ ** **Kageyama got into position, jumping up beneath the ball.** **_This position, this timing, this angle!_ ** **He watched Hinata jump up, a sniper’s mark turning red as it froze on the right position.**

**As if in slow motion, he saw Hinata’s arm begin to move.**

**Then, a flash.**

**The ball zipped across their side of the court, meeting Hinata’s hand and smashing down onto the court in an instant, Tsukishima not even able to get off the ground or Yamaguchi to get into a receiving position.**

The echo rolling off the T.V in waves sent shivers down their spine. The sudden rise in the music and the intensity and the volume of Kageyama’s voice all collapsing in on that one hit somehow sent genuine shivers, goosebumps rising on their skin.

The striking sound effect rang in their ears, some of their eyes slightly widening at the display.

_ So that’s how he did it…  _ Oikawa analyzed every movement that Kageyama did, drinking in his smooth motions and the utter focus he’d reached; it looked like he was in the zone from Oikawa’s point of view.

Bokuto gasped, watching the scene,  _ That’s why those two are here… _

“Akaashi, can you try doing that?!” He yipped excitedly; he never knew something like that was possible, and knowing that Kageyama could do it, it opened up a whole new world of fun for the high-caliber ace. “I wanna try that!” He bounced excitedly in his seat, already anticipating the feeling of the ball just popping up wherever he swung his arm.

The second-year, however, dismissively waved his hand, “Nah, I couldn’t reach that exact amount of strength and speed. You’d have to ask Kageyama to do it.”

Kageyama felt the energetic third-year hone in on him, “I think I could, but there’s something else to it, I think…”

“Huh?” Bokuto stopped in his track, similar to Tanaka and Nishinoya freezing mid-air, even though that hadn’t happened yet at this point in time. “Why not?”

Hinata pointed out, “We’re not sure exactly...but for some reason, it doesn’t work with the other members of the team. We’ve tried figuring it out, but we’re not so sure ourselves.”

The owl groaned, smacking a head onto his forehead in anguish, “Aw, I wanted to try it!”

**Tsukishima whirled his head around, arms still in the air, though his eyes showed surprise and absolute shock, catching the normally passive blocker completely off guard.**

Kuroo chuckled, “I feel ya, buddy.”

**As Kageyama, he pumped his fist in the air, “Nice!”**

**Hinata landed, an expression that consisted of a mixture of awe and shock on his face.**

**As the ball rolled off, Hinata started to whisper before his voice really picked up steam, “My hand...It hit my hand!” he broke out into a bright smile, looking at the red marks on his right hand religiously. His shoulders were shaking in excitement, but everything just seemed to line up for him right then and there.**

**Tsukishima watched, trying to seem like he hadn’t been affected by the sudden spike, “He’s so over the top.”**

Kuroo retorted, “And you’re so...uh...under the bottom?” He said it like a question, something that had Bokuto wheezing at how horrible the comeback was.

Kenma blinked, “Kuroo, for someone who literally studies whenever he can for fun, you really don’t seem like you’ve ever seen a book.”

Akaashi facepalmed, “How do your jokes keep getting worse…?”

**Daichi walked up to him, eyes wide and lips pressed thin, “Woah...wait a minute…” HIs eyes were empty, pupils having constricted, myosis pretty much occurring right then and there.**

**The camera faced him straight on, and the way he looked, one could pretty much infer that he had felt the full effects of some sort of PTSD, “Hinata’s eyes...they were closed right then…”**

“Wait, what?” Bokuto gasped, the only one in the room to show that much emotion at the moment, Akaashi showing his own form of emotion through a light gasp.

Oikawa watched them, amused as he rested his head onto a closed fist, elbow on the armrest, “I mean…can’t blame them for how they were reacting.”

Iwaizumi scoffed, unfortunately finding himself agreeing, “Yeah, if I wasn’t in a game the first time I saw it, I’d probably be just as shocked, too.” He crossed his arms, wanting to drink some water to get the sour taste from agreeing with Oikawa out of his mouth.

**Tanaka, Kageyama, and Tsukishima all broke into equally incredulous expressions, “Uh, what?!”**

**“From the moment he jumped up until he spiked,” a shot of Hinata’s face, eyes shut tight and mouth curled downwards, trying his best to stay focused, moved slowly. “Hinata’s eyes were closed…”**

**Kageyama popped up from bird’s eye view, eyes completely focused, as if not registering anything else in the world at the moment, “That means Kageyama tossed it right where Hinata’s palm would be without him even looking…”**

**A slow-motion version of the toss went up, the air itself slowly being pushed out of the way in ribbons, “He synched the toss to the moment that Hinata would swing with total accuracy…” The slam from before was repeated, the echo ringing even louder.**

“Okay, now that you put it like that, it sounds super hard…” Hinata begrudgingly admitted, refusing to make eye contact with Kageyama, who’d smirked in satisfaction.

_ I can feel the shit-eating grin from here… _ Iwaizumi internally groaned.  _ But anyways, that sounds like it’d be super hard to maintain over the period of an entire game. _

**Tsukishima leaned over, still unable to fully wipe the newly plastered feeling of shock surging through him.**

**Hinata, on the other hand, had reached moksha, nirvana, and had been lifted up from the Rapture all at once, gasping as genuine joy surged through him, “Awesome...awesome!”**

**He held his right hand out to Kageyama to show him the red marks, “Hey, what was that? What was that?!” He clearly hadn’t noticed how everyone else was reacting, especially judging from his child-like smile. “It hit my hand there. Right there! Hey!”**

“Dude, imagine hitting one of those,” Iwaizumi sighed, hoping that ignorance was bliss, and that not hitting it himself might’ve been best for his patience.

Bokuto nodded, “God, I’d probably react like Hinata!”

**Kageyama pointed his finger at him once again, shock still shivering, “You! Why’d you have your eyes closed?!” There wasn’t any bite to it, but the sudden movement startled Hinata anyways.**

**Hinata’s shoulders tensed, stuttering out, “Y-You told me not to watch the ball! When my eyes are open, I can’t help but watch it…”**

**Kageyama tilted his head, before continuing anyways, “I said that, but…”**

**Sugawara and the other second-years, one of them leaning over the scoreboard, had similar expressions of shock, listening to Hinata counter, “It worked, though, didn’t it? Right?”**

“I mean, that’s one way to think about it,” Oikawa hummed, content with the answer.  _ Whatever works. _

Kenma poked Hinata’s side, “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Just...why?” Kenma blinked, narrowing his eyes like he did when he was confused.

He wasn’t going to elaborate.

**Kageyama barked, holding his fist out in frustration, “Sure, but who trusts anyone like that 100%?” He stomped, like a baby holding a tantrum.**

**Hinata closed his eyes, pouting as he explained loudly, “Well, I have no option but to trust you right now!”**

“Okay, so would you have trusted him otherwise?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I’m right here, you know.”

**_A shot of Hinata diving for the ball on multiple occasions, teeth grit as he let out a few grunts, flew into Kageyama’s mind, with his words, “You’re lousy as shit,” and “What were you doing for the last three years?!”_ **

**As Kageyama watched Tanaka ruffle Hinata’s head, congratulating him, “You’re awesome, man! What the heck was that, anyways?!”**

**Kageyama mused, his mind wandering freely,** **_His spring, his mobility…_ ** **A confident smirk came onto his face.** **_I can enhance everything he is with my toss!_ **

“Really?” Hinata raised an eyebrow. “That’s where ya go?”

“Hey!”

**The music stopped as Kageyama wiped the smirk off his face, not wanting Hinata to get any ideas, “All right. If Hinata’s spikes keep scoring, the overall score should even out, and we should catch up since that’ll make it easier for Tanaka-san to spike, too.”**

**They both held up their fists, ready to keep going, “Yeah!”**

**“I don’t have any faith in us whatsoever,” Kageyama bluntly stated, causing Hinata’s wave of joy to suddenly splash against a wall. “but I’ll keep bringing the ball to you.”**

“Coulda worded it any other way,” Akaashi suggested. Kageyama shrugged, and Oikawa’s nose crinkled.

“It’s not his style,” Oikawa pouted. Kageyama nodded, not getting the fact that he meant it in a negative way.

**“Just trust me, and jump.” Hinata nodded solemnly.**

Oikawa stayed shut, but the thought lingered inside of him,  _ That trust didn’t win you your match against us now, did it? _

He felt an elbow jab straight into his gut.

“Iwa-chan, what was that for?!” He groaned in pain.

“You had that face that just says ‘Hey, I am going to be an asshole right this very moment.’ It annoys me,” He grunted, redirecting his attention back to the T.V.

**The ball went over the net again, Tanaka cleanly receiving it.**

**As Kageyama focused in, he thought to himself,** **_Right there!_ ** **He tossed with just as much speed as before. However, for some reason, it didn’t have as much impact as before.**

**That reason was most likely because the ball was sent directly into Hinata’s right cheek, probably at Mach speed at that point, causing him to lose his balance mid-air and falling to the ground.**

“Ope.”

“That one hurt,” Hinata complained, rubbing his cheek as if it hurt him in real-time right now. He pouted, sending some puppy eyes Kageyama’s way just to make him feel bad.

Unfortunately, his setter wasn’t even paying attention, still relishing in the pleasure of adding yet another inconvenience to Hinata’s life in that day.

**Kiyoko flinched away, cringing at the loud thud that Hinata’s impact on the court made.**

**“My bad,” Kageyama quickly apologized.**

“That’s all?”

“It’s something, I’ll take what I can get.”

**Ennoshita hummed as he added another point to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi’s team, “I wonder if that last one was just luck…”**

**Sugawara defended them, “Well, the precision of his tosses are definitely getting higher.”**

**“You think so?” The second-year questioned, doubt seeping into his voice.**

**Sugawara simply nodded, “Yeah, I do.”**

“Hey, at least Suga-san had some confidence in me,” Kageyama breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t even know he was holding. “That’s more than I can say for myself then.”

Hinata pouted, “But you still hit me in the face!”

“Oh, looking back, you definitely deserved it,” Kageyama smirked, his period of being nice to Hinata over for the day. “I mean, you were being really loud that day.”

“So were you!”

**_Darn...that one was too far from the net…_ ** **Kageyama reflected.**

**“Here, Hinata,” Kageyama barely registered Suga’s words as he handed Hinata a towel before receiving the response from the slightly injured boy: “Oh, thank you very much!”**

**As he watched Hinata wipe the sweat off the court, holding his cheek as he hissed in pain, Kageyama lamented,** **_Watching the entire court at once is hard...This isn’t so easy, after all…_ **

“Well, duh,” Kuroo grunted. “It sounds hard just thinking about it like that.”

**Kiyoko softly put her hands on her knees to lean down towards him, gently asking, “Are you okay?” Hinata turned red, bursting out thanks for all the concern and stuff like that while Kageyama watched.**

**_But…_ ** **Kageyama smiled, something typically foreign to his features.** **_This is fun._ **

**“Hey!” Hinata barked, his sudden embarrassment turning into hostility. “What’re you smiling for?! That’s the second time that it hit my face!”**

Iwaizumi hissed, “I mean, one thing I can at least say about Oikawa: I don’t think he’s ever set a ball into my face before, at least not during a game.” He leaned back, imagining that it probably as displeasing at Hinata was making it out to be.

“Y’think so?” Oikawa quipped. “I feel like I’ve probably accidentally messed that up.”

“During your own practice, probably,” Iwaizumi snorted. “Or maybe to Kunimi. He seemed like he was really anti-synchronization with anyone.”

**Tsukishima grit his teeth, scowling at the pair, “I don’t get it. That last one had to have just been luck, but he keeps trying the same thing.”**

**Daichi lightly smiled, gently chuckling, “Maybe so. But maybe he’ll keep tossing, and maybe Hinata’ll keep jumping without watching the ball.”**

**He shrugged, craning his neck towards the two, “Honestly, I don’t really get it either. I don’t know how anyone could just trust someone like that 100%.”**

“I still don’t know how you two do that,” Kenma dryly laughed. “I can’t even trust Kuroo 50% to do something that I ask him to do, even outside of volleyball.”

“Oh, come on, that was one time!” Kuroo groaned loudly, slapping his hand on his forehead. “And I even did that thing you said to pay back for it!”

“You didn’t do it well enough.”

**“Did you do that on purpose?” Hinata asked, pouting as he rubbed his cheek while standing up. “Don’t you know that we have to win?”**

**Kageyama rolled his eyes, “Of course I know that, you idiot.”**

**Daichi huffed, slightly surprised still, “Not to mention your own rival, right?”**

“That’d be like Oikawa setting to Ushijima,” Iwaizumi snorted, imagining the hilarity of the situation.  _ God, imagine if Oikawa ended up on the same team as Ushiwaka and had to set to him the entire time in game. He’d probably break down after the first three sets. _

And as he expected, the third-year setter gagged, ready to puke at the idea of it alone.

**“Dang, that one didn’t work,”’ Hinata groaned, eyes closing before he opened them again to look at his right hand.** **_But this sensation…_ **

**He looked at the red marks, which had faded by now but were still present,** **_and the weight of the ball in your hand when you hit it…_ **

**_I love that feeling!_ ** **He smiled to himself, a gentle glint in his eyes before he looked back at the court.** **_One more...one more!_ **

“Sounds kinda addicted.”

A snort. “Yeah, imagine the most wholesome, innocent boy on Earth would ever even think of doing drugs especially when he loves his sister too much for that, and only thinks about playing volleyball too.”

**Kageyama, on the other hand, was focused on something else,** **_One more time. Carefully._ **

**He rubbed his wrists, crackling them as he gazed at the other side of the court,** **_The toss that shows the spiker’s greatest accuracy and power._ **

Hinata poked Kageyama’s forearm, then subtly pointed at Oikawa, causing his best friend to flush before smacking him on the top of the head.

**Yamaguchi softly served the ball over the net, Tanaka receiving it again, “Got it!”**

**“Nice receive!” Kageyama called out, heading over to the ball already.**

**Tsukishima confidently huffed, “He’ll try tossing over to the Shrimp again and fail.”**

“Hey, Hinata,” Bokuto started asking. “When did people start calling you a shrimp?”

Hinata scratched his cheek, eyes wandering around as he mentally searched for the answer, “I know it started before third-year of junior high, but I’m not sure if it started during there...maybe the last year of primary?”

Oikawa tilted his head, “But...wouldn’t the other kids also be short like you?”

Hinata shrugged, “I was still short among the other kids anyways. But I could always do the monkey bars better than them!”

**He casually looked over to the sound of footsteps, still muttering, “He should probably mark Tanaka-san instead.”**

**However, he was caught off guard by the sight of Hinata sprinting towards the net without restraint, legs all ready to bounce into the sky with every single step he took.**

**The look in his eyes practically instructed Tsukishima to have Yamaguchi there as a precaution, “Hey, get up here!”**

“Ah, not so arrogant now, aren’t you?” Kuroo smirked, somewhat relishing the ability to beat on Tsukishima without him being there in person or it being actual gossip.

“Never underestimate any spiker,” Bokuto confidently declared. “No matter how strong, weak, tall, or short.”

**_The wall…_ ** **Hinata thought as he watched them raise their arms before remembering Kageyama’s words.** **_Listen. If you can’t spike it…_ **

**He ran up close to the net, before turning on a dime, the impact no doubt hard on his ankle, Hinata’s thoughts taking over,** **_avoid it!_ ** **He turned to the left, practically at a right angle, yet again surprising Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, the latter barely able to realize what’d happened by the time Hinata had started to jump.**

Bokuto whistled, somewhat impressed. He knew from experience and practice about how hard it was to stop yourself that quickly, and just how much agility that took.  _ His legs must be super strong...well, those jumps already showed that, but to react like that so naturally? That’s talent. _

**_If I can’t be as tall as the other players,_ ** **Hinata thought, Kageyama’s eyes locking on to him while he sprinted, mouth open as he breathed heavily.** **_Then by one centimeter, even one millimeter, or even just one second faster…_ **

**He pushed off with his right leg, moving in a direction nearly parallel to the net but still facing it,** **_I will...I’ll reach the summit!_ **

**Kageyama pushed the ball with just the right strength, though it felt like slow motion, the way that it passed by Tsukishima, whose right arm was stretched out in an attempt to stop Hinata.**

**_Then…_ ** **Hinata started to move his arm in his spiking motion.**

**_In that moment...._ ** **He felt the ball touch his finger pads.** **_I...will be at the highest place._ ** **He heard the beautiful, echoing smack of the volleyball on his palm.**

A few of the players tried to remember the first time that they spiked a ball that was set to them, the satisfying feeling of smashing the ball down onto the ground.

Kuroo recalled one time, he doubted it was his first, but the first time that Kenma set to him outdoors on that smaller net as kids after dragging him outside for god knows how long. He sniffed, somehow smelling the scent of the spring grass despite their current confinement as he was blasted with a wave of nostalgia.

Bokuto let out a deep breath, before internally smiling. The first time he’d spiked was nothing too great, or at least, that’s what he told himself. But the time that he was able to spike past the blockers that’d stopped him with his newly improved straight shot was nothing less than what he assumed ecstacy felt like.

**Hinata remembered the pairs of hands looming above him,** **_A tall, tall wall...looms in front of me._ ** **The shadows of their palms engulfed Hinata’s view.** **_What’s the view on the other side?_ **

**As he felt the air surge through his hair, he slowly, hesitantly opened his right eye,** **_What does it look like?_ ** **He remembered Kageyama’s focused expression, drops of sweat flying off of him as he started to fall.** **_It’s a view that...I could never see on my own._ **

“Hence why setters are cooler.”

“Spikers!”

“Setters!”

“Yeah, definitely setters.”

“Nah, Oikawa, I’m with Hinata on this one.”

**He watched the ball slowly pass by Tsukishima’s hand, and quickly opened his left eye, drinking in the sight in front of him, burning it into his memory.**

**The way the sun gently fell onto the court, the drops of brightness splotching the waxed ground, adding yet another layer of shine to it as the ball broke through the waves of light, ripples echoing throughout the gym. All contained in those neat, thin white lines.**

**_The view from the summit,_ ** **Hinata internally sighed in bliss, taking in the chills and the shocks sent through his entire nervous system as he greedily took in the feeling of seeing somebody dive for the ball, only to be too late.**

_ That’s it, take all of it in,  _ Bokuto silently urged the younger boy.  _ That...That’s your moment. Love it. Savor it. Eat it. _

“Did you really just say to ‘Eat it?’ What is he eating?” Kuroo repeated, absolutely perplexed.

_ Oh. I said it out loud. _

**Expressions of awe filled the room, Kiyoko’s whistle threatening to fall out of her mouth.**

**Even Kageyama seemed a little amazed, slowly looking at both of his hands.**

**Hinata looked at his hand, the red marks renewed, before glancing at the ball, which slowly came to a stop.**

**He took a soft breath, feeling his heart pound.**

**He clenched his hand, screaming out along with Kageyama, “ALRIGHT!”**

As the ending song started to play, most of them let out a breath that they didn’t even know they were holding.

Hinata whispered, the feeling still sinking into him, “That was...amazing.”

Kageyama nodded, patting his back instead of roughly smacking his spine out of its normal shape, “Yeah, I feel that. God, I love volleyball.”

Oikawa and Bokuto nodded along.

Akaashi looked at the other setters in the room,  _ We have to have a training together. There’s undoubtedly a ton of stuff that we could learn from each other. _

Iwaizumi coughed loudly, causing the attention to go to him, before he quickly diverted it to Oikawa.

“Hey, I thought I told you that I’d do it once the season ended!” Oikawa complained, before he was shut up with a harsh glare. “Fine, fine…”

He looked at the others in the room, and almost as if he read Akaashi’s mind, suggested, “Yo, y’think that we could...practice sometime?”

Kenma seemed somewhat apathetic, but didn’t seem against the idea. Akaashi nodded, already having plans forming in his mind.

Of course, Kageyama pointed at himself again, his forearm yet again absolutely ripped the moment that his finger pointed at himself, a stupid expression on his face.

“Yeah, yeah, you too, Tobio,” Oikawa hesitantly spoke, grabbing an apple to get rid of the newfound sour taste in his mouth. “It’d be a good time to practice our setting, and with the variety of players here, it’d be perfect. Plus, Kuroo’d be there to help us with blocking.”

Bokuto whistled, “Sounds awesome! Would it be all of us, or what?”

Iwaizumi nodded, “Yeah, it’d be a good opportunity, and easier to set up, since we don’t have to organize the entire team. We’d just need a place to practice.”

Kenma spoke up quietly, though it was loud enough for everyone to hear him despite his sudden discomfort of the eyes on him, “Well, Shou’s place is pretty big. His backyard’s big enough to set up a full volleyball net, from what I remember from our sleepover.”

“You slept over?” Kuroo asked suddenly, unable to keep the betrayal out of his voice. “Why don’t you let me do that?”

“You irk me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry! I'm all good and I'll be back with another chapter by Christmas, I'm almost certain of it!
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> SpiritBloodDragon


	6. Episode 5: A Coward's Anxiety

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hinata dies before the practice game with aoba johsai.
> 
> so does tanaka's pants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yknow i said i'd be back by christmas
> 
> the thing is
> 
> i finished the chapter like christmas eve ish
> 
> the problem is that i forgot to release it
> 
> hm
> 
> interesting

“Yo, I got snacks!” Hinata excitedly chirped, his claim being validated by the bajillion snacks that have somehow been stored within the room, whether it be in some nearby cabinets or the fridge. “What’s the title of the next episode?” He shuffled to the middle of the room, the snacks ruffling in between his forearms and each other.

Kenma grabbed a few from there, sifting through the various bags to find his favorite: Chips Ahoy.

Oddly enough, especially from Kuroo’s perspective, Kenma absolutely loved the Chewy version, preferring it over the normal version. The two’d had many arguments about which one was better, from taste to texture to even how well they fit in various situations like practice, parties, or cold nights.

However, the real surprise came in the form of how many snacks Hinata had gotten. Apparently, he didn’t want to burden anyone by getting up in the middle of an episode to either use the bathroom or grab snacks. To solve this issue, he painstakingly stacked the bags, canisters, packages, and everything else in there from drinks to things that they didn’t even know were stored there all on top of each other to once, reminding them of a Jenga tower.

The rest of the teens stood up, looking for their own favorite snacks, which varied heavily, though somewhat made sense to the rest of them.

However, after they’d dispersed, Hinata plopped down onto the couch with a gigantic bag of sun chips, the garden salsa flavored one. Kageyama looked at him, before narrowing his eyes.

“Dumbass. Where’s my yogurt.”

He said it like a command, but Hinata only raised an eyebrow in complete understanding, the response came off his tongue like second nature, “There wasn’t any. Plus, don’t you already have those meat buns?” He gestured at the three (yes, 3) meat buns in Kageyama’s hands, which seemed like they were in the perfect position to be juggled.

Kageyama snorted, “Bullshit, there wasn’t any yogurt.” He set the buns down on the couch in his seat, saunting over to the fridge.

He slammed the fridge shut loudly, as if specifically to get Hinata’s attention with a gigantic shit-eating smirk on his face, “You were saying?”

“None for you, dummy!” Hinata stuck out his tongue playfully as the setter joined him on the couch. “Now, c’mon! I wanna get started!”

As Oikawa pressed the play button, he was immediately met with beads of sweat falling.

**Driplets, slowly falling like in slow motion, followed by deep and heavy breaths.**

**The camera panned to meet Kageyama’s face. Fatigued, sweaty, mouth slightly open to get that little bit of extra oxygen that his body desperately needed.**

**Hair sweatily matted to his forehead, his thoughts were gravelly, grasping onto some sense of consciousness,** **_I must be aware…_ ** **His eyes narrowed every so slightly, the sound of the ball flying up in the air snapping him out of his thought void.**

**Seeing the ball fly through the air, he picked up on the way it spun, the sound it made while pushing the air out of the way, and the height it was at.**

**_Of the ball..._ ** **His focus shifted over to Tsukishima and Daichi, both looking up at the ball intently, honed in on the spiker’s running path.** **_Of the blockers…_ ** **Another shot came up, this time of Tanaka and Hinata absolutely focused, fire in their eyes as they continued to sprint in slow motion.**

“That’s kinda scary,” Kenma admitted. “I don’t think I could ever focus on so many things at once.” He shook his head, sighing in discontent, accepting the fact that Kageyama was simply built different.

Kageyama snorted, “Okay, says the guy who is literally called the Brain Of Nekoma.” He crossed his arms in disbelief, not believing a word Kenma said for a moment. Leaning back onto the couch, he was met with some disdain from the setter, though most others in the room agreed with him.

“Plus, you have to focus on Kuroo,” Akaashi lightly teased to the blocker’s chagrin, who’s jaw dropped to the floor in anguish. “That’s like focusing on 20 things at once anyways.”

Kenma rolled his eyes playfully, looking at his fellow setter, “And you’ve got Bokuto on your team.”

Bokuto almost leaped up to defend himself, “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” He puffed out his chest like a bird trying to scare off other rivals for the mate.

Kenma held back a shrewd smile, “I’ll tell you when you’re older.”

“I’m older than you!”

“So?”

A moment of silence passed before Bokuto huffed, plopping back down onto the couch with a pout on his face, looking like he was a temper tantrum slowly subsiding personified.

**“I can’t overlook even the slightest movement,” Kageyama brought his hands up, eyes honed in as his body moved like an artisan that’d mastered his craft.**

**A squeak echoed as Hinata turned on a dime, ball of his foot turning parallel to the net as he sprinted, hair covering all of his vision, casting a light shadow over his eyes. A look of solemnity, yet utter confidence flew onto his face as he got into a spiking position.**

**Watching Hinata’s arm move in slow motion, his school shirt gently flapping from the air, Kageyama’s thoughts were running wildly, honing in even further,** **_With perfect timing...I must find...the highest point of the spiker’s strike…_ **

**Looking at Hinata’s arm primed, shoulder tensed, his eyes narrowed on a specific spot like a sniper’s crosshairs.**

**_And capture it!_ ** **The crosshairs turned red, the ball launching towards it as Hinata swung his arm to meet the ball, Yamaguchi grunting in surprise as he failed to receive the speedy spike.**

“Christ,” Kuroo muttered, leering at the duo. “How didn’t you guys beat Aoba Johsai?” He glared accusingly at Oikawa, having gathered enough to know that he truly was someone to be careful around when playing on the court.

Iwaizumi glared at Oikawa, already ready to smack him if he were to make a snide remark, yet he refrained when Oikawa’s eyes seemed calculating, listening to Hinata speak.

“‘Cause I messed up the spike,” Hinata groaned. “And that receive I botched. I messed up so many times, honestly. It was probably me,” Hinata admitted, groaning with more and more memories of the loss coming to him, a pout on his face.

Bokuto whistled, “But that’s just you as a player…” he was going to continue, but was cut off by Kageyama’s laser eyes, focused on something else as he began speaking, as if he was looking into the past.

“That last set,” Kageyama spoke, venom in his voice as it became somewhat gravelly, almost beast-like. “I screwed up that set to Hinata. I should’ve done it to someone else, like Tanaka or someone else.”

“Nope,” Oikawa’s voice came through, completely interrupting Kageyama before he went on a ten-page rant in 10 pt. font in Times New Roman.

“Then what was it?” The raven-haired setter harshly spoke, before seeing the focus in his eyes, like Kageyama on the T.V had while setting to Hinata.

“It wasn’t your individual mistakes,” Oikawa started, nudging Iwaziumi to point him out as an example. “The two of us made more than enough mistakes during the game. We’re high schoolers, not professional athletes or robots.”

He sighed, his voice becoming a little quieter and more reflective than explanatory, “It was because our team was more united than yours.”

Iwaizumi noticed Hinata and Kageyama simultaneously open their mouths and knew what Oikawa was going to say from there, “And he’s not talking about having a bond. Karasuno’s team is just closer outside of volleyball than ours.”

Oikawa nodded, glad that his best friend understood it, “Our team doesn’t have those special moves that we have to rely on when the team’s pushed to their limits. We just have to play like normal people.”

Kenma recalled, “Their quick.”

Kuroo nodded, “Exactly.”

“You…” Oikawa cringed, not sure how to phrase his next words. “I don’t know how to get this across...but you relied too much on that skill. It made you predictable.”

Iwaizumi nodded, putting a hand on his chin, “Well...that last point...and the other points where it was set point...I did have an inkling in the back of my mind that I had to watch out for your quick more than anything…”

Akaashi hummed, “So that last point, you must’ve known who to block more than anything.”

“Exactly,” Oikawa started to wrap up everything. “But...if you were to refine it, it’d be something I’m not sure we could stop again. For example, Shiratorizawa.”

Bokuto perked up, “What about Ushiwaka?” He’d heard of the powerhouse, the supposed strongest spiker in all of Japan, and had met him at Nationals, but never had the chance to play against the giant.

“Ushijima’s spike...you saw it yourself on the replays,” Oikawa assumed, and Hinata nodded, having religiously watched the tapes for anything that he could find on how to improve. “We couldn’t stop it, and that was Shiratorizawa’s main weapon, which they use even more often than you two with your quick.”

“It’s a more powerful weapon,” Kenma deduced, though couldn’t help but be impressed.  _ Shouyou’s spike was already tough to stop. That was something that  _ _ could  _ _ be stopped, though...I don’t think Kuroo could stop something that powerful. Maybe I’m wrong. _

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows, already taking Oikawa’s words to heart,  _ How do I make it stronger? How would we as a team make it stronger? What if it’s already predictable? Is there some...ninja sort of way we could hide it? _

“Yeah,” Oikawa muttered. “And we need to learn how to stop it if we’re ever gonna make it to Nationals.” He looked at Iwaizumi, who nodded.

“We’ve been training with Dateko decently often, since we’ve heard one of their blockers is rumored to be the best blocker in the prefecture.” Oikawa, however, didn’t mention how Aone hadn’t gone up against Shiratorizawa yet, though had a sneaking suspicion that he might be able to pull off a miracle.

“Oh, Aone-san?!” Hinata chirped, mind completely off of Oikawa talking. “He’s super cool!”

Kuroo sighed, already thinking,  _ How would we stop Ushijima? We can stop Bokuto, but Ushijima’s even stronger than him… _

The room leaned back in their seats, watching the T.V while mulling over how to beat something so powerful, and to find a way to somehow block, or at least receive it.

**As the whistle blew, Sugawara whispered to himself in awe, “They did it again…”**

**Ennoshita whistled, impressed, “Another point to Kageyama and Hinata’s team.”**

**As Kinoshita reached over the scoreboard to change the score, he noted, “They turned it around. One more point and they’ll take the first set.”**

**24-23.**

“Weren’t you two getting destroyed just a moment earlier?” Kuroo snorted, before Hinata denied it, though Kageyama nodded in agreement.

“Yeah, playing 2 on 3 wasn’t easy, especially when the third person was a third-year,” Kageyama bluntly stated, not even thinking about it as an insult, though it got a few chuckles out of the others in the room other than Hinata, who argued in protest, only for his cries to fall on deaf ears.

**Sugawara stared on in awe, eyebrows furrowed in a mix of awe, admiration, and slight jealousy, “His tosses...they’re getting more accurate every time.”**

**He watched Kageyama put his hands on his knees before using his right sleeve to wipe some sweat off his brow,** **_We’re seeing Kageyama’s true abilities as a setter._ **

Kenma mused, somewhat curious, “Maybe he is a robot. Sets like it, honestly.”

Kageyama scratched the back of his head, not sure whether to take it as a compliment or a weird passive-agressive statement. He didn’t know Kenma well enough to know if his tone meant something else.

Akaashi wondered, “You think there’s a limit to where he can set? Like how far away?”

This time, Kageyama was able to formulate a response, “I mean...I know that Oikawa can set further than me, so whatever his limit is would probably be a bit further than I can set.”

In a flash, most everyone’s eyes were on the third-year, who basked in all the attention, though wasn’t too sure despite his external confidence, “I’m not sure about the absolute limits on my sets, but I know that I can set from one side of the court to the other, like...width-wise. I can do that decently well, but once I get outside of that range it isn’t super certain. Not sure how far I can go out.”

Iwaizumi nodded in confirmation, “Yeah, we tried using it as a weapon against Shiratorizawa, but that weird blocker of theirs would always somehow be there even if there was no prediction.”

“Weird blocker?” Kuroo repeated, tilting his head.

“Yeah, he’s...odd,” Oikawa admitted, cringing at how he sounded; it didn’t mean to sound so condescending. “Not in a horrible way, but his behavior, really. He’s got this weird intuition, too.”

Kuroo’s mind ran, trying to remember Shiratorizawa’s team. Even Nekoma’d heard of them, especially since they were a top 3 team.

**Hinata ran up to Tanaka, holding out his hands for a high five which was gladly returned, the two shouting out proudly.**

**“That was awesome, man!” Tanaka complimented, ruffling Hinata’s hair as the shorter boy let out a satisfied giggle.**

**_But the one who pulled it out of him,_ ** **a light smirk came onto Sugawara as he stared at the boy, who was still enamored by the red slowly crawling onto his hand.** **_Was Hinata._ **

**Hinata celebrated, closing his hand into a fist, “Scored again!”**

Before Hinata could even open his mouth, Kenma gently put a finger on his lips, effectively shushing him to the boy’s chagrin.

“Hey!” He complained. “You didn’t even know what I was gonna say!”

“Yeah, I did,” Kenma lightheartedly countered. “You were gonna say something about spikers being cooler, even though setters are clearly cooler.”

Oikawa snorted, “You guys are still on that?”

Iwaizumi clicked his tongue, holding back a smirk, “As if you aren’t.”

**As the whistle blew again, Sugawara’s mind wandered off to somewhere else, eyes closed as he seemed to be feeling a mix of torturous pleasure and secondhand embarrassment.**

**_He sure is holding up...I’ve never seen someone take a toss to the face before,_ ** **Sugawara remembered, biting lightly on his thumbnail to stop from laughing out loud.**

“It’s like you tossed just to hit me in the face. You know that you coud’ve done it right!” Hinata whined.

“To be fair, you kinda deserved it for being so annoying,” Kageyama defended blandly, no bite to his voice like Ushijima would have talking to Oikawa.

“Your defense is that I deserved it?!”

Kageyama didn’t answer.

**“You’re not scoring anymore,” A serious voice that seemed somewhat unfamiliar to Sugawara snapped him out of his thoughts, seeing Tsukishima jump up where Hinata was at, hands up in the air.**

“Ooh, poor form,” Kuroo criticised in distaste. “I can see exactly why you guys lost now.”

Bokuto sent him a pointed look, feeling his bullshit meter fill up, “Oh, high and mighty one, how would you go about blocking?”

Kuroo leaned back, crossing one leg over the other with a snide smirk on his face, causing Kenma to shudder in utter hatred and annoyance filling him despite not even seeing the smirk. He just felt the presence of something douche-like.

“Easy, stick out your hands out. You wanna make sure your block has more room to go back if the spike is super strong,” Kuroo explained, going along with the act.

Iwaizumi, being the one closest to them, shuddered, not sure where to scoot over, especially considering his only option of where to scoot would be going closer to Oikawa, which he planned to avoid at all costs.

**Time seemed to pass in slow motion as Hinata began to swing, Tsukishima preparing for the moment the ball hit his hands.**

**Yet, as Hinata’s spike seemed to reach its most powerful point, he whiffed, the ball nowhere to be seen.**

**_Crash!_ ** **Like a beautiful wave of artwork, the ball was gracefully sent to Tanaka, spinning like a dancer as it met his hand as if they were meant to be.**

**“Come to me!” Tanaka shouted out, his smirk looking more like he had shark fangs than he had human teeth as he spiked the ball straight through, no defender there to stop it.**

**Ennoshita hummed, impressed while Sugawara looked at the spot where the ball landed, “Man, his spikes look super strong when he’s free.”**

“Wouldn’t anyone’s spikes?” Oikawa wondered out loud, a little confused at the meaning of the statement.

“Not Hinata’s.” Kageyama pointed out what he felt was a clear example, causing said boy to cross his arms and huff, clearly feeling his honor attacked.

“Is today just a bullying me day? First you, then Kenma, then you again?” Hinata complained, putting his head in his chin with a dissatisfied pout.

Kenma clicked his tongue, “To be fair, you are kind of asking for it.”

“What do you mean?!”

“You didn’t get me enough apple juice,” Kenma teased, causing Hinata to hide his face in his hands, clearly embarrassed, letting Kageyama snicker a little at his predicament.

**As Kinoshita flipped the 25th point onto the scoreboard, the whistle blew, Tsukishima cursing under his breath.**

Kageyama groaned, remembering what was going to happen.

Even Hinata, who was used to Tanaka and Nishinoya’s antics, even Kuroo’s to some extent considering how he often hung out with Kenma, felt some sense of embarrassment merely being associated with Tanaka, the person who was about to be shown on the screen.

Akaashi looked on, intrigued, wondering what could be so bad about it. However, it very quickly clicked in his mind before it even popped up on the T.V. From what he knew, Tanaka was almost the same as Yamamoto, who he...he’d had the great displeasure of meeting numerous times through training camps and when Kenma would occasionally talk to him during tournaments they’d both been attending.

**Tanaka smirked, before nearly ripping off his shirt yet again, whirling it in the air like a tornado before taunting. He got close to the net, leering at the young boy.**

**“How do ya like me now, Tsukishima?!” He stomped his foot like a bull, face zoomed in on. “Weren’t you going to crush me and Hinata?!”**

**His face had more wrinkles than a raisin, muscles in his face working that no other human had worked in their life before.**

“That’s freaky,” Akaashi shuddered, seeing Tanaka more as a horror movie antagonist than a teen on a volleyball team.

Kenma was unmoved, completely used to the sight, almost feeling a sense of  déjà vu in the man without the mohawk.

**Hinata’s voice seemed like a literal pipsqueak to contrast the dark, almost murderous tone of his upperclassman, “Yeah, what about that?!”**

“No offense, Hinata,” Iwaizumi tried to bite back the incredibly amused smile that he was feeling tug at him. “You’ve really gotta work on being intimidating.”

Hinata huffed, “I am intimidating, thank you very much!”

Kenma rolled his eyes, “Shouyou. I am more intimidating than you.  _ I  _ am. And I’m me. You know, the guy who won’t get up on the weekends earlier than 8 A.M because I don’t like noise outside.”

Hinata shot him a look of betrayal, to which the boy merely shrugged, a sheepish smile working its way onto the setter’s face.

**“Try it if you can!” He insisted mockingly, a cocky feeling to his words as they grit past his shark fangs. Hinata repeated the latter half of that, trying to form a scowl that looked anything more menacing than if it were to come from an American Girl Doll, though to some, none were more intimidating than that.**

**Ennoshita interrupted him, “Why are you the one bragging the most, Tanaka?”**

“Reminds me of Fukunaga, eh?” Kuroo randomly muttered. “You see it, Kenma?”

Kenma nodded, “Sort of…” he cringed, not sure how he was gonna put it. “He...looks like one of those really minor characters.”

“But Ennoshita-san’s so nice!” Hinata bemoaned.

“I bet he is,” Kenma countered, pointing out. “But you and Kageyama are the main characters. Even Kuroo and I, who are in this room, would probably be pretty minor characters.”

Hinata’s jaw dropped, “They can’t do that!”

“Who’s they?”

“Y-You know! The, the dude!” Hinata spluttered. “The guy behind all of this!”

Oikawa held his hand up lazily, leaning a little forward, “Well, all eight of us are here. That means we have to have some sort of importance in his eyes, right?”

“I...I guess?” Kenma shrugged, not really sure how to take it. He’d never felt like he was all that important, and he liked it that way. Less pressure to upkeep expectations.

**Tanaka looked over to the source of interruption, Ennoshita holding his hands out in protest, “That’s right! You’re only scoring because the first-years are taking the weight off of you!” Kinoshita was leaning over the scoreboard, somewhat smudging the chalk on the green while Sugawara stood by.**

“Isn’t this the same guy who said something about spikes being stronger when they’re free?” Kuroo wondered out loud.

“Sounds like he’s the kind of guy who says a lot of...redun....redundoce…” Bokuto started, before driving off into trying to think of the right word.

“Redundant?” Akaashi suggested.

“Yeah!”

**Sugawara held his hands to his mouth, cupping them to make his voice louder, “You’ve got too big an attitude.”**

**Kinoshita lifted one of his hands, holding it and shaking it like an old man shaking his fist at kids to get off his lawn, “Don’t take off your shirt, baldy.”**

**Tanaka whipped his shirt in their direction, “Hey, who’s trash-talking me here?!”**

“I was in my mind,” Oikawa admitted sheepishly.

“No, don’t feel bad about that,” Iwaizumi lectured. “I definitely was, too.”

“Same,” Kuroo chuckled.

**As the two teams went to opposite sides of the gym walls to take their break, Yamaguchi wiped the sweat off his collar while Daichi took a large gulp from his water bottle, Tsukishima seeming deep in thought, holding his water bottle in his left hand without taking a sip.**

**Kinoshita noted, looking at the current losing team, “Frankly, if they can’t stop Hinata and Kageyama’s attacks, they’ll have a hard time winning.” He kept his arms leaning on the scoreboard, looking over his shoulder.**

**Sugawara shook his head, clicking his tongue as Kinoshita continued, “Tsukishima’s team’s having a hard time. They lack conviction.”**

“Have you ever seen Tsukishima use emotion?” Kuroo asked the duo, who took a moment to think before shaking their heads.

“Never.”

**As Narita blew the whistle, he gestured as Kinoshita followed up, “Starting the second set!”**

**Tanaka stood up, a confident, yet not arrogant smirk on his face, “Let’s go!”**

**“Yeah!” Hinata and Kageyama answered with a firm nod, fire back at its full burn.**

**However, unlike their team, Yamaguchi, Tsukishima, and Daichi calmly walked onto the court, their faces neutral as the first-years slowly walked up to the front of the net.**

“So boring,” Kuroo sighed like an old man. “Have some pep in your step, for Pete’s sake!”

“Says Mr. go to the chiropractor because of back problems.”

“It’s ‘cause I have to carry you,” Kuroo retorted with a snort.

“Only into the gym ‘cause I don’t wanna practice,” Kenma lightly smirked. “ _ I’m  _ the one who has to carry you guys with strategy. All ‘cause you suck.”

**As a few minutes passed, the sounds of the scoreboard flipping flew by.**

**The ball soared through the air, before meeting Yamaguchi’s hand, only to knock into Kageyama’s block.**

**Flying off the block, the ball slowly fell right by the line, just inside the court.**

“Lucky,” Oikawa sneered, a little bit of snarkiness in his tone, before it was swept away by his inner nature. “But sometimes luck’s all you need.”

**“Got it,” Kinoshita hummed, flipping over the score again. 4-2, Kageyama and Hinata’s team.**

**Another few minutes, and Tsukishima spiked past Kageyama’s block.**

“Ah, how nice it is,” Oikawa sighed blissfully, seeing his dreams come true after a sorrowful moment of Kageyama succeeding.

**Coincidentally, Tsukishima spiked directly where Hinata was standing. However, instead of making the rational decision in backing up to receive the ball, Hinata took it like a champ.**

**Which is, to say that he took the ball straight to the face, probably causing some micro-fractures in his nose as it left a red imprint on the boy, who was sent to the floor reeling in shock.**

Bokuto cringed, having had his fair share of clumsy moments.

Akaashi scratched his neck, recalling the moment. However, it seemed nobody else caught on to the two seeming to remember something.

Kenma pursed his lips, trying not to let out a light chuckle for Hinata’s sake, who was already getting his dues on being made fun of by Kageyama.

**Kinoshita flipped over the scoreboard, this time on Yamaguchi and Tsukishima’s side. 10-10, a tie.**

**As Tanaka sprinted up to the net for a spike, which Tsukishima responded to by jumping up in tandem, Kageyama let his shoulders lax momentarily as he gently dumped the ball over the net.**

“That’s such an Oikawa move I can’t even believe it,” Iwaizumi snorted. “No wonder people keep calling Kageyama your junior, Asskawa.”

Oikawa scoffed, putting his hand on his chest like a Romantic Era shakespearean character, “As if! Tobio-chan has nothing on me!”

“I’ll catch up!” Kageyama barked, insistent.

“Nah.”

“Oh, wow, what a great response.”

**Landing on the ground, the ball bounced twice very lightly, its echoes lightly ringing through the gym.**

**13-11, Hinata and Kageyama’s team.**

**Tsukishima huffed, taking off his glasses for just a moment to take off his sweater, tossing it behind him onto the stage before jogging back onto the court, a hint of frustration in his eyes.**

“Woah, now that’s a power boost,” Hinata snorted. Kenma didn’t bother to correct him about how unbelievably dramatic it typically was, but considering Tsukishima, it probably was a power boost in its own right.

**A moment or two later, Hinata swung his arm as fast as he could, though his hand met air as Kageyama set to Tanaka, who was free considering Tsukishima’s absence.**

**Tanaka followed up, hitting the ball with force past Yamaguchi’s block, landing on the court with a resounding thud.**

**Kinoshita clicked his tongue, flipping over the scoreboard once more. 24-20, Hinata and Kageyama’s favor.**

**Whistling lightly, he leaned a little more onto the scoreboard, “Man, Kageyama’s amazing, but it has to be really taxing to keep tossing such accurate tosses.”**

Kenma snorted, “It’s taxing to toss in the first place.”

“You don’t even practice outside of school,” Kuroo rolled his eyes, having tried to drag Kenma out on several occasions to toss to him.

“Exactly,” Kenma pointed out, not trying to deny it. “It’s taxing to do both in and out of school.”

“Then tell me why Hinata got you to toss to him for like ten minutes when he came over to our sleepover!” Kuroo retorted.

“I mean, I actually  _ invited  _ Shouyou,” Kenma gladly pointed out, causing Kuroo to sour up a little. “You just barged in. Hence, I set to him.”

Kageyama narrowed his eyes, hearing the second-year’s words, “Wait. You let Kenma set to you?”

“Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I?” Hinata tilted his head, somewhat picking up on the somewhat jealous, yet malicious flames radiating from Kageyama, bursting like hellfire at the mere confession of him playing.

Even Oikawa, who was sitting on the other couch, could feel the sheer emotion rolling off of his junior in waves.

**Ennoshita put a hand on his chin, head slightly tilted downwards in concern as his tone reflected it, “Hinata’s starting to look a little tired from moving around so much.”**

“Impossible.”

**Sugawara lightly smiled, hope in his tone as he watched, “Yeah, but…”**

**Kageyama took a sharp inhale, before sending the ball towards Hinata once again. In a flash, Hinata smashed it onto the other side of the court, Daichi’s diving for the ball all for naught as he never reached it.**

**As Hinata landed, he pumped his fist in sync with Kageyama, “All right!” There was a satisfied smirk on both of their faces, as the camera quickly panned to them.**

“Imagine thinking that you hate someone with a passion and then play with them the entire year,” Oikawa snorted, before he felt a glare boring through him.

“Well, I don’t have to imagine it sometimes,” Iwaizumi growled.

**Sugawara sighed contentedly, “Well, I think they’re having fun. That’s for sure.”**

**As the whistle blew, Kinoshita flipped over the last point. 25-21, Hinata and Kageyama’s team.**

“I mean, you two were definitely having fun,” Bokuto haughtily chuckled, leaning on one of his elbows resting on his left knee. “Definitely way more than that string bean on your team.”

**As Hinata fell to the ground in exhaustion, body sprawled out against the cool gym floor, he quietly panted as Kageyama hung on to his last thread, literally hanging onto the bottom of the volleyball net.**

**On the other side, Yamaguchi was sitting, leaning a little back while resting on his arms as Tsukishima had his hands on his hips, breathing a little heavier but nowhere near the level that the others were at. Daichi walked over to them, holding out two water bottles to them, which they’d gratefully accepted.**

Hinata sighed in bliss, still remembering the day as if it was yesterday, yet not as if he’d literally watched the game in front of him, “Man, that was such a fun win.”

Akaashi leaned a bit closer to his couchmates to ask, “Wait, that was the first win you’d had in volleyball, right?”

“Mhm!” Hinata beamed, though he hid the fact that he himself hadn’t realized that. “The only other match I’d ever played then was against Bakayama...which, y’know, didn’t go too well.” He shrugged lightheartedly, brushing it off.

**Tanaka walked up to the captain and vice-captain, “Daichi-san...Suga-san...did you two both know that those two could attack like that?! When you said all that stuff? That’s amazing!” He had a blush on his face that resembled what you’d expect of one in awe mixed with what you’d expect of one who would be a happy drunk.**

**Daichi and Suga looked at him, raising their eyebrows in slight confusion before remembering what he’d said.**

**_If we can utilize that combination...Karasuno’s going to make explosive improvement._ **

Kuroo whistled, somewhat impressed, “Man, I guess I wasn’t wrong…”

“Okay, what is it now?” Kenma quietly huffed, not willing to let his actual curiosity show. From everything Kuroo was, he’d expect some sort of stupid answer, since Kuroo typically answered...around 80% of the time, the remaining percentage just him actually being serious, an uncommon occurrence.

This time, however, fell into that uncommon probability, in which Kuroo simply furrowed his eyebrows, humming the fact that he heard Kenma, but remained carefully watching the T.V.

**Another flashback came, of Tanaka watching Suga speak with his mouth slightly open like a fish’s face.**

**_“Can’t we use it to our advantage somehow?” Suga asked Kageyama as he shoved the volleyball between his elbow and torso._ **

**Sugawara shuddered, feeling a light chill run down his spine as his tone became flustered, “O-Of course not! I was just saying that he should give Hinata tosses that he wouldn’t have trouble spiking.”**

Oikawa found himself subconsciously nodding his head in agreement, though Iwaizumi did end up noticing.

Akaashi lightly chuckled, shaking his head in slight disbelief, “I mean, giving him tosses that he doesn’t even have to see probably fits under that category. You didn’t have to take it to that sort of extreme, though.”

“It worked, didn’t it?” Kageyama retorted, before Kenma interjected.

“Literally no other setter would be stupid enough to try that out if they were gonna risk their position as setter,” Kenma pointed out, something that Kageyama couldn’t really argue against.

**Daichi chuckled lightly, not really sure how to answer either, “I was just thinking that Hinata would eventually get used to Kageyama’s reckless tosses...But it didn’t play out how I thought it would.”**

**Tanaka glanced over at the two, Kageyama still hanging onto the net while Hinata was struggling to even sit up, limbs shaky as he tried to push himself up feebly.**

**Daichi held up a finger, “Well, I was sort of hoping for this.” A cutesy model of Hinata and Kageyama came onto the screen, simply drawn but got the point across.**

**Kageyama’s pissed-off expression as he held a stick, ready for battle was coupled with Hinata’s determined expression, though with the same position, with the two of them combining their powers linearly, just complementing each other.**

**10+10=20**

**“The thing is, we kind of ended up with this.” Instead, a new model came on screen, Kageyama holding a rocket launcher with a fierce expression on his face, the rocket launcher bearing a Hinata sticker near the firing end, the background much more fierce and active, instead exponentially boosting each other’s strengths and skills (Or for Hinata, a lack thereof). Instead of a 10+10, it was a 10*10.**

Hinata snorted, “So Kageyama’s only good ‘cause of me.” However, Kageyama countered not with his words but with his claw, fiercely gripping onto Hinata’s scalp as the short boy cried in protest.

Kenma quipped, lightly chuckling, “Doesn’t that work the other way?”

“Hey! You’re supposed to be on my side!” Hinata gritted out as he tried to find a way out of his predicament.

**_An image of Hinata came up in front of Kageyama, with his arms flying behind him as he ran up for his jump, Daichi narrating over him,_ ** **“Hinata’s inexperienced, but he’s got natural speed and a pretty good jumping ability.”**

“Do you guys have to keep bringing up how new I am to volleyball?” Hinata groaned, Kenma nodding vehemently.

“Shouyou…” he deadpanned, looking around the room. “Out of all of us, you’ve played volleyball the least.”

“B-But--” Hinata started before being shushed by the setter, who put a hand on his chest to gesture to himself.

“Shou,  _ I’ve  _ played volleyball longer than you, and I’m me,” Kenma explained. “The fact that I’ve played volleyball longer than you? That’s weird in itself.”

**Daichi built off of that, “Then Kageyama can use him to the best of his abilities, since his skills are so finely-tuned.”**

“Hey! I’m not just something for Kageyama to use!” Hinata exclaimed, partially offended and hurt despite knowing full well that that didn’t apply now.

Akaashi interrupted before an argument could break out, “To be fair...you didn’t really know what you were doing. You were just learning from what Kageyama’s sets were teaching you.”

Kageyama bit back his counter,  _ Meaning that I’m technically the only reason he’s still going. _

“You’re thinking something mean, aren’t you?”

**“At least, when it comes to volleyball, those two bring out the best in each other,” Daichi finished.**

**As he looked at the duo, he hummed, content to see the two not trying to murder each other at the moment as they had finally gotten to their feet, “As a duo, I think they’ll beat whatever expectations I’ve had of them.”**

**Kageyama huffed, muttering darkly to Hinata, “Why? We don’t have to.”**

**Hinata grabbed his forearm, pointing somewhere, “Yeah we do. Come on!”**

**He was able to get Kageyama to follow him as he called out, “Tsukishima!” He jogged to him and Yamaguchi. As they turned around to face the duo, Hinata held out his hand.**

“I could never,” Oikawa scoffed. “I’m not that honorable.” He shot a look at Iwaizumi, who groaned in frustration.

“Are you really gonna bring up that one time?” Iwaizumi muttered. “What I brought up the time with Kageyama?”

“What time?” Kageyama asked, hearing his name. However, a glare from Oikawa to Iwaizumi shut him up promptly.

**Hinata hit him with a determined look as Tsukishima blandly asked, “Huh?”**

**Hinata stretched his hand out further, stabilizing his rather flimsy arm, “We’re supposed to shake hands before and after a match.”**

“You are literally the only person who would ever have the energy to do that, and the only person who would care enough to do that,” Kenma dryly laughed. “Not even Kuroo cares about that sort of stuff.”

Hinata looked at Kageyama for support, but he got none, “Nah, I think he’s right. We shouldn’t have to shake hands every single time. Think about what’d happen at an actual training camp. That’d be so gross…”

Oikawa snorted, “Okay, okay, I’ll give that to you, Shrimpy. I used to do that all the time also.” Iwaizumi nodded to confirm.

However, of course, Bokuto stood up, “Hey! Playing with honor’s the way to go, and shaking hands does that perfectly!”

“Of course you’d think that volleyball needs to be super honorable,” Kuroo teased.

**Hinata corrected himself a little bit, “Even if we didn’t do that at the start of the match.”**

Bokuto gasped dramatically, “Sacrilege!”

**His eyes narrowed as he slightly pouted, speaking begrudgingly as if he didn’t want it to be true, “Besides, we’re teammates now.” He felt a sour taste in his mouth after that.**

**He glanced away, almost puking, “Even if it doesn’t make me happy.”**

**Tsukishima looked down on him with a venomous retort on the tip of his tongue, though Yamaguchi’s presence was just able to prevent it even if it was barely so.**

“I have never heard someone try to be nice in the fakest way possible,” Kenma blandly stated, deadpanning at Hinata. “Other than Suguru, I have never seen somebody say something so passive-agressively.”

Hinata giggled lightly, “Like you’re one to talk about being passive aggressive.”

**His shoulders tensed before hearing Hinata speak again after glancing back at the captain, his eyes distraught, “Hurry. Don’t you know they’ll kick you out of the gym if they show you team spirit?” In reality, he kind of just wanted to get it over with, currently having no problems with Tsukishima not being in the gym.**

**Yamaguchi quietly chortled before slapping a hand onto his mouth as he watched Tsukishima, heavily amused.**

“You could at least try to act like you want to shake his hand. It’s not like he’s infected with a negativity plague,” Akaashi suggested, trying to speak in a Hinata-type of way.

**Tsukishima’s eyes were completely devoid of emotion, as if there was nothing to hold him back at the moment other than his own exhaustion from contact with Hinata in the first place, “The reason that you two got kicked out was because you ignored the captain, got into your own competition, and of course, blew the vice principal’s rug off of his head.”**

“To be fair,” Kageyama pointed out. “I personally think that we should be rewarded for that. Nobody else has done that so far, and we’re just inventing the strategy.”

Iwaizumi snorted, “With a vice principal like that, I’m not so sure I wouldn’t try something either. Of course, I could probably not get caught, unlike you two.”

Kuroo nodded, “Imagine what Tora could do to prank a vice principal like that. That’d be awesome.”

**Hinata and Kageyama shuddered, Hinata trying to hide his embarrassment as he spit out, “Never mind the little details…”**

**All of a sudden, Hinata leaped for Tsukishima’s hand, who dodged the attack at the last moment, gasping in a little bit of shock.**

**“Come on! Shake hands!” Hinata spat out ferociously.**

**Yamaguchi was knocked a bit to the side, though ended up shaking hands with Kageyama, who was much more peaceful.**

**“What are you doing?!” Tsukishima demanded, annoyance in his voice as he continuously dodged Hinata’s speedy movement as Sugawara, Tanaka, and Daichi all watched in slight amusement.**

“That completely looks like something you’d do,” Kuroo guffawed, looking directly at Bokuto. Akaashi nodded, a soft smile on his face as he sighed, feeling the urge to lecture Bokuto at the mere mental image of the ace doing something like that.

**“What the hell are those first-years doing?” Tanaka wondered, looking at Tsukishima grip his wrist as he hissed.**

**“Y-You all right, Tsukki?!” Yamaguchi asked, slightly panicking. However, they were interrupted by Daichi walking up to them with a neutral expression on his face.**

**“Tsukishima,” he started. “How’d you like the three-on-three?”**

Oikawa huffed, “At least Aoba Johsai doesn’t seem so hard to manage compared to Karasuno,” before Iwaizumi rolled his eyes.

“We’re the one who has to babysit you,” he huffed, looking at Akaashi with a pitying look, wondering how the setter had to deal with a top 5 ace.

**Tsukishima hit him with a harsh glare before retreating ever so slightly, looking to the side, “It didn’t bother me too badly. He’s the King from an elite school, after all. Nothing weird about commoners losing to him.”**

“Okay, Socrates, anything else for us?” Kenma rolled his eyes, somewhat displeased with how Tsukishima seemed to be trying way too hard for no reason whatsoever.

**Daichi only smirked, “You say that...but you still played pretty seriously.” He walked up to the first-year, handing his sweater back to him that he’d thrown to the side in the middle of the match.**

Akaashi hummed, a light smile playing on his lips, “Watch him have one of those tragic anime backstories or something.”

Kuroo shrugged, “Wouldn’t surprise me with how gloomy he is.”

**“Captain!” Hinata’s shrilly voice and Kageyama’s restrained, yet still all too aggressive voice came through, causing the two first-years and Daichi to jump, a little startled.**

**They both held out a paper to Daichi, who looked at it.**

**It was their club applications.**

“What if he just ripped them up in front of them,” Oikawa dryly theorized. “What’d they do to get back on the team?”

**Daichi grabbed the applications, before glancing over them.**

**Nodding to himself, he called out, “Shimizu!” Looking over to him curiously, she stopped tending to her current task.**

“Ah, so that’s why Tora was going crazy about a girl of the same name,” Kuroo noted, looking over at Kenma. “Remember that time that he just burst out into tears remembering a girl named ‘Shimizu?’ I think we found who that was.”

“Why the hell is he calling her by her first name, then?”

“It’s Tora. No clue.”

**“The stuff is here, right?” He asked, Hinata staring emptily at the woman as she nodded, before walking over to grab something.**

**“Stuff?” Hinata repeated, looking up at Daichi, who nodded before turning his attention back to Kiyoko.**

**Carrying a cardboard box sealed with clear tape, she set it down slowly near where everything else she’d set up was, including the water bottles and towels.**

**As she cut open the box, Hinata could barely wait, peeking in before his mouth fell open, a brith smile on his face as he giggled with a childlike wonder.**

“Man, I just joined the team because I wanted to play. I didn’t wanna join a team because of the team, but you do you,” Iwaizumi shrugged, having had seen weirder. The league was pretty weird, from his experience.

**Hinata instantly held up the jacket, almost catching Kiyoko off guard despite how calm and collected she always seemed to be, gazing at it with an awe-inspired look and pure admiration, a light blush on his cheeks.**

Kuroo whispered to Bokuto, “Never thought somebody could want to fuck a jacket of all things before.”

Bokuto wheezed, catching Iwaizumi well off guard, his instincts of beating up Oikawa when he laughed at something stupid almost kicking in full power.

**Hinata put on the jacket at an unprecedented rate, while Kageyama kept trying to fix the jacket sleeve, though he had a satisfied smile on his face.**

**Kiyoko picked up the box again, and started to walk, “The sizes should be okay...but just let me know if you need anything.” Her tone was soft and gentle, incredibly caring and careful.**

“Ah,” Oikawa whispered.

“Huh?” Iwaizumi grunted. “What’s going on in your mind now?”

“I can 100% see why Tanaka and that guy from Nekoma are into her,” Oikawa whispered, getting flashbacks of the girl’s silence. “Even if she is shy…”

“You are not telling me you’re whipped for their manager,” Iwaizumi groaned. “Because she rejected you? That’s so lame.”

**“S-Sure!” Hinata and Kageyama stuttered out, the latter having finally gotten on his jacket properly.**

**Sugawara pat Tsukishima on the back, “C’mon, why don’t you put it on?”**

**Tsukishima shook his head, looking at the jacket with much less enthusiasm than Hinata or Kageyama, “No, I think I’ll do it later.”**

**Tanaka smacked him on the back, much less gently than Sugawara, “What, you shy or something?”**

Kenma scoffed, crossing his arms, “What, is it wrong to be shy?”

Hinata shook his head fervently, “No, of course not! Though...it does kind of make talking to people harder if they don’t talk back…” he giggled as he scratched the back of his head.

_ Don’t worry, Chibi-chan,  _ Kuroo thought.  _ I doubt there’s a person in the world who’d refuse to converse with you; you’d make them talk before they even knew they were talking. _

**“Come on! Put it on already!” Tanaka continued, before Sugawara decided to join in on the peer pressure.**

**Tsukishima felt a vein pop within every single region of his body as they repeated, “Wear it! Wear it! Wear it! Wear it!”**

**Only a few moments later, Sugawara and Tanaka both smirked in satisfaction, seeing the four first-years line up.**

**Hinata and Kageyama were both trying to hold in their sheer excitement, Tsukishima held a bored face, and Yamaguchi was distracted, fiddling with his zipper before fully zipping up his jacket.**

“The four horsemen of absolute bullshit,” Kuroo snorted. “A super good blocker, someone who’s getting good at serving, an unbelievable setter, and then Hinata.”

“Hey! Why don’t I get a cool title like the others?” Hinata blasted, before Akaashi clicked his tongue to catch their attention.

“I mean...you do kind of suck without extra help,” he sheepishly explained, not sure how to go about it. Kenma held in his laugh, but some of the others didn’t even try to hide their amusement at Hinata’s betrayed expression.

**Hinata hopped around a little, showing off the back of his jacket to his upperclassmen, “It looks so cool!” He had sparkles in his eyes as he said so, earning a soft, sincere smile from Suga.**

**“Looks pretty dang good,” Tanaka complimented as Hinata continued to hop around.**

**Daichi cleared his throat to interrupt, “We’re the Karasuno Volleyball Club from here on out…”**

**As the other members gathered, the first-years remained in a line as Daichi tossed on his own jacket, “Ready, and…”**

**He tugged on the the inside of his jacket, signalling the second and third-years to chant in unison, “Nice to have you!”**

Oikawa shuddered, “Does every team have something like that?”

Kenma sighed, “Yeah, we had to go through something like that in our first year. But instead of all that...which is just your guys’ case,” he gestured to Hinata and Kageyama. “We had to state our goals. Of course, I didn’t have one, so I wasn’t sure what to say.”

“You could’ve used the one I gave you,” Kuroo reminded, before being brushed off.

“Your answer was worse than just being silent.”

**While Tsukishima looked on, seeming to stare off into space, Yamaguch merely nodded thankfully.**

**Hinata, tense as ever when the matter concerned the captain, and Kageyama, who’d learned not to risk anything anymore, nodded at each other.**

**“Thanks!” They chanted in unison, responding to the rest of the team’s greeting.**

“Hm...Tobio-kun,” Oikawa interrupted, deep in thought, eyes focused on nothing in particular. “Do you remember how far into the school year this was?”

Kageyama scratched his head, Hinata being completely clueless as he honestly had no sense of time.

“I’d like to say...maybe our second week into the school year? Either our second or third, since first-years had to ‘settle in’ or whatever before we could join a club, to get used to the school system at Karasuno,” Kageyama did his best to explain, earning a thankful nod from Oikawa. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh…” he hummed, coming up with a reason that’d make decent sense. “Wasn’t our practice game the week after that?”

Kageyama nodded, “Yeah. Can’t believe it actually happened, though. I thought Takeda-sensei was messing with us, honestly.”

“Who?”

“The volleyball club’s faculty advisor.”

**Sugawara watched Tanaka with a curious eye as the second-year was showing Hinata something to do with their jacket while the other first-years witnessed the odd show, the second-year confidently instructing, “Like this!”**

**“Like this?” Hinata hummed, receiving a nod from Tanaka.**

**“Exactly!”**

**As Kiyoko stood up, she seemed somewhat intrigue with the boys’ odd act before Daichi walked up to the two third-years.**

**“Suga, you and Tanaka helped them out, didn’t you?” He asked out of the blue, seeming satisfied for some reason.**

“Well, at least he didn’t seem angry,” Hinata sighed in relief.

Kuroo shrugged, “I don’t see how it’d be an issue, you know? Daichi’s strict, but not that strict, from what I know of him. Letting teammates practice extra? I wish Lev would do something like that.”

Bokuto huffed in agreement, before smirking, “I’m proud to say that my teammates are down to practice with me anytime!”

_ That’s just because we’re concerned about you somehow getting stuck in the ceiling of the gym if we let you practice unsupervised,  _ Akaashi mused with a slight smirk on his face.

**Suga chuckled, holding up his hands in defense, “Oh, not really!”**

**Daichi shrugged, looking at the first-years and Tanaka, “Well, it all worked out in the end, anyways. Thanks.”**

**Suga and Kiyoko shared a look before nodding.**

**Putting a hand on each of his shoulders, the two of them congratulated him, knowing the words he wasn’t going to say for the sake of self-preservation, “Good job.”**

**“H-Huh? Hey!”**

“Well, maybe he’s strict just because he finds it fun to torture people,” Kuroo snorted, thinking back to the various times that teachers spoke about them giving homework for any other reason than to torture students, knowing full well that they did but never wanted to admit it.

**After a few minutes passed, Kageyama picked up a volleyball, “Yo, Hinata? You ready to go?”**

**Hinata shot him with a curious loko as the setter continued, “Let’s keep practicing quick attacks.”**

**A second wave of energy hit Hinata, who tossed off his jacket and setting it to the side with an excited smile on his face, “Sure!”**

**Tanaka watched them go onto the court with a confused expression as Kageyama requested, “Tanaka-san, could you please bring the volleyballs?”**

**_They’re moving around already?_ ** **He wondered, flabbergasted.**

“Note how they’re doing it,” Iwaizumi started calmly; any time that Iwaizumi spoke calmly, Oikawa could rest assured that he was fine for most of the times.

This wasn’t one of those times, as Iwaizumi’s polite tone turned into a vicious, monstrous growl, “in a healthy manner. You know, not to the point of injuring their knee.”

**The sound of slippers slapping against the pavement echoed outside of the gym, though Hinata and Kageyama paid it no mind until the footsteps came with a voice, “It’s decided! It’s decided!”**

**The metal doors were slammed open to reveal a man with his hands on his knees, catching his breath before looking at the teens.**

**He held a paper, folded in half lengthwise with a smile on his face, “The practice match! It’s against one of the top four teams in the prefecture.”**

**He walked in the gym, elaborating a little further, “Aoba Johsai High School!”**

Kuroo whistled, “Top four? That’s pretty damn good.”

The gears in Kenma’s head cranked. They’d been going for a while, though his suspicions were just confirmed on why Oikawa and Iwaizumi had been brought here: they’d been pretty important characters as well.

“Ah...so that’s why you asked,” Kenma muttered, before speaking up a little. “Oikawa, you must’ve been the one to organize the practice match, right?”

Oikawa chuckled, “Yes and no. I was the main one who pushed for it, but Coach didn’t want my request alone. Luckily, Kunimi-chan and Kindaichi-chan also wanted to go against Karasuno, though theirs was mainly for revenge.”

“That explains the request,” Kageyama realized. “That was you?”

“Yep!” Oikawa popped the ‘p.’ “They just wanted to beat Karasuno since you were on their, but I just asked for it since I wanted to see how you were doing as a setter, you know?”

Kageyama hummed, content with the answer.

**“Seijoh?” Sugawara gasped, Daichi having a similar look of shock on his face.**

**Tsukishima scoffed, “Yikes…”**

**Yamaguchi looked a little concerned, tugging on his collar to help with the sudden nervousness, “No way…”**

**To contrast, Hinata seemed jittery, suddenly even more reenergized than before, “Really?! A practice match with one of the top four!”**

Iwaizumi muttered, “Don’t let that get to your head.”

Oikawa brushed him off, “Jeez, jeez, I won’t. What are you, my mom?”

**Kageyama darkly muttered, suddenly tensing, “Aoba Johsai…”**

**Takeda noticed the two, chuckling, “Ah, so you two must be the controversial Hinata-kun and Kageyama-kun.**

“Controversial?” Akaashi repeated, earning a nod from Hinata.

“Yeah, the vice-principal considered suspending us from all club activities for that,” he sheepishly shuddered. “I was called into his office and got a warning.”

Kageyama nodded, showing that he too received the same lecture. 

**The two of them tensed up a little, before Hinata whispered urgently to the setter as the adult walked towards them, “Who is he? A teacher?”**

**Kageyama shrugged, lowering the volleyball a little bit as he did so, “I dunno.”**

“Ah, you guys have a faculty advisor too?” Oikawa absentmindedly asked, getting two nods from the other two. “How about the rest of you guys?”

“Yep,” Bokuto nodded. “But it seems like he’s just there because someone needed to be there for the position...not so much about him liking volleyball.”

**Takeda introduced himself with a nod, “I’m going to be the volleyball club advisor starting this year. Takeda Ittetsu.”**

**Hinata leaned away from Kageyama, putting his hand down that he’d used to not so discreetly whisper, “Hi.”**

**“Hello,” Kageyama nodded to acknowledge the rather chippy fellow.**

**He admitted, straightforward with a smile on his face, “I’ve not got any volleyball experience, so I can’t really help with your technique and skill, but for anything else, I’ll do my very best.”**

“What a guy,” Oikawa hummed, somewhat content. By all means, he was both the most sincere and the least sincere person, or at least, in his eyes he certainly was. That being said, he could still respect it when someone was genuinely just a really sincere person in the first place.

**“Good to meet you!” He finished, clear confidence yet a humble tone in his voice.**

**“Right!” Hinata and Kageyama nodded with equal enthusiasm.**

“You already know that guy’s cool,” Bokuto felt a little sense of admiration for the man. “You know when you talk to someone or hear someone talk and know that they’re a good person? That’s the sort of feeling I get from that guy.”

**“Sensei,” Daichi interrupted, walking up to the teacher with Suga by his side, causing the advisor to scratch the back of his head in slight embarrassment.**

**“Ah, I’ve been running around everywhere setting up the practice match,” he explained. “So...I haven’t really had an opportunity to drop in here and tell you guys.”**

**“But, Sensei, how did you get Aoba Johsai to agree to a pratice match with us?”**

“Easy. He didn’t,” Oikawa snorted, though he couldn’t blame them for being curious; he doubted they knew that he’d be on their team, and even if they did, why he’d want to face off against Karasuno in the first place. “That was us.”

Iwaizumi nodded, “I’ll admit, I wasn’t really for facing Karasuno for no apparent reason, but I was slightly curious about how good Karasuno was. Plus, I heard that Kageyama was on there, and I thought he was pretty cool.”

“Am I not cool?” Oikawa whined, clinging on to the ace before being shoved off.

“If the bar for being cool is you, that’s the lowest bar ever recorded,” Iwaizumi grunted.

**Daichi questioned, curiosity and a sense of awe in his voice, wondering, “You didn’t get on your knees and beg, did you?”**

**Takeda only chuckled, shaking his head, “No, no, though I suppose it’s my specialty if you guys are saying it. I didn’t do it this time, though.”**

**Daichi and Suga sulked, clear relief in their posture.**

**Takeda straightened up, catching their attention, “However, they did end up having a condition for us.”**

**“Huh? What is it?”**

**Takeda narrowed his eyes, reading the text exactly as it was written, “Kageyama must play setter the entire game.” Both Sugawara and Kageyama seemed shocked, though neither incredibly displeased.**

“Okay, that should’ve been a sign, right?” Oikawa asked Iwaizumi. “Especially after Tobio-chan told them about me?”

Iwaizumi nodded, before narrowing his eyes, “Wait, how the hell did you know that?”

“You told me, Iwa-chan,” Oikawa deadpanned, catching the ace off guard with the sudden change in tone from lightheartedness to feigning disappointment, but rolled his eyes anyways.

**Tanaka instantly started leering, feeling his intimidation gut kick in full power, even if it wasn’t directed at Takeda intentionally, it was what the intimidation landed on, though to little effect, “Huh? What’s that about? Sounds like they’re not interested in Karasuno.”**

**He leaned closer to Takeda, causing the advisor to back up even though his expression stayed chipper, though Tanaka continued, “They just wanna assess Kageyama, huh? They underestimating us? Huh? Is that what’s going on?”**

“Of all the times for him to do so,” Kenma lightly snickered in amusement, though he hid it by pulling his knees to his chest and burying his face in it. “You’d think that Sawamura-san would do something about Tanaka doing that.”

“Yeah!” Hinata belted, laughing. “I remember how weird Kiyoko-san was looking at him!” Even Kageyama couldn’t help but smile a little bit, remembering how it went.

**Takeda sheepishly laughed, trying to appease Tanaka, “W-Well, not quite.”**

**Sugawara held a hand up, preventing Tanaka from being expelled from Karasuno through potential less-than-ethical means, “Sure. We don’t get chances like this that often.”**

**Instantly, Tanaka turned into a semi-white knight, defending Sugawara despite the latter’s being fine with it, “You’re going to just...agree with that, Suga-san? You’re the official setter of Karasuno.”**

“Dude,” Oikawa groaned. “He’s about to mess up the practice match.”

“This already happened, you know. We had the practice match,” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, though not really in annoyance. He, too, was somewhat fed up with it, even with the short duration.

**Sugawara hummed, trying to phrase it correctly, “I...I want to see how effective Hinata and Kageyama’s attack will be against someone as strong as a top four team.”**

**The two mentioned teens blinked, somewhat surprised, having not thought of it.**

“Honestly,” Oikawa grunted, admitting it. “The jury’s still out on that one. You guys did beat us in a practice match, but we beat you guys closely. It’s kind of both, really.”

Kuroo smirked, “They didn’t even beat us in a practice match. Maybe we’ll beat you, huh?” Oikawa rolled his eyes playfully, catching onto the captain’s teasing tone, though Kageyama and Hinata didn’t, almost belting in defense of their honor inadvertently being tainted.

**Daichi continued after taking Suga’s nod as a cue to speak, “Sensei...may we have the details?”**

**“Sure...Um...the schedule is rather sudden, but it’s set for Tuesday next week,” Takeda pushed up his glasses as he narrowed his eyes, reading the small text on the paper. “It’ll be after practice, so we’ll only have time for one match.”**

“So…” Oikawa shuddered, feeling a dark, malicious aura start to roll off of Iwaizumi in waves, spiritually knocking the setter back with each second that passed. “Of all the times to miss a game...you miss the one that you set up yourself?”

Oikawa didn’t speak up.

Akaashi hummed, “Seems pretty...stupid.” This, of course, launched another spear through Oikawa’s heart.

**Takeda continued rambling, “We’ll be taking a bus after school…”**

**However, his words quickly faded into nothingness for Hinata, who only focused on one part.**

**_A match…_ ** **The words repeated in his head like programmed code, the only thing he allowed himself to think about.**

**_It’s going to be my first official match at Karasuno…_ ** **he looked around the team, who were all paying attention to Takeda, unlike Hinata himself, who was clearly out of focus.** **_With a full team!_ **

**Finally, he zoned back in enough to hear Takeda’s last words for them today, “So make sure you aren’t late!”**

**“Yeah!”**

Bokuto snickered, remembering the various times that’d happened, “Did you end up figuring out what you had to do, Hinata?”

The boy sheepishly chuckled, curling a little into himself like a ball, “N-No...I had to end up asking Kageyama what we had to do.”

“And I’ve never let you forget about that,” Kageyama smirked with pride in his voice.

**As practice started to wind to a close, Sugawara officially ended it, congratulating the team as the sun set to cast a gentle orange glowing reflection on the windows, “Good job!”**

Kuroo muttered wistfully, “Maybe we should try something like that. You know, ending practice with a little repeating thing to like really seal the deal?”

Kenma shook his head, adamant, “Absolutely not. Never.”

“Why?” Kuroo started to come up with his reasoning, before quickly being shot down by the setter.

“You already make us jump through enough hoops for that same sake,” Kenma grunted indignantly. “We don’t have to jump through more.”

**After a minute or two, Sugawara heard the sound of footsteps becoming louder behind him.**

**He turned around to see Kageyama jogging down the hill to catch up with him, “Sugawara-san.” His voice held a certain steadiness to them despite the obvious fatigue the boy was experiencing, coming to a stop once he’d caught up, the two stationed in front of a convenience store.**

**After the third-year let Kageyama catch his breath, he was hit with a determined, fiery look, “I may have to play setter by default this time, but from now on, I’ll earn my place.”**

“I mean, don’t you do that by being on the team?” Kuroo wondered out loud. “I mean...I guess you have to be good enough to play on the court, anyways. Not that Karasuno would know about that.”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!” Hinata gruffly prompted, before having a hand put on his shoulder by Kenma.

“Nothing bad…” the boy explained, trying to find the words to pacify the shrimp. “Just that there aren’t many members on Karasuno. You know how…” he put a hand on his chin,eyebros furrowing as he hummed to find a proper example. “How Aoba Johsai has that huge cheering squad?”

Hinata nodded, still not getting the message, though Kenma couldn’t blame him as he turned to the taller setter, “Oikawa-san. Are those people all just cheerleaders and whatnot, or are some of them members of the team?”

Oikawa hummed, “Well, there’s this special section for the team that doesn’t play on the court. Right, Iwa-chan?”

His best friend picked it up, “Yes and no. There are a bunch of people that are on the team that don’t play during games, but it’s not enough for us to have a whole section just for the team. Usually, they’re in the center row, closest to the court, though there are a few rows of normal cheerleaders right behind them. At least, that’s what I remember off the top of my head. There’re probably some things I’m missing.”

“See?” Kenma gratefully smiled to the two of them, which was returned with a respectful nod. “There aren’t that many members on Karasuno. Just means you get to play more, right?” Finally, Hinata’s tension fled his body, returning Kenma’s expression with a bright smile.

**Sugawara blinked, “Huh?” Kageyama snapped out of his stupor, surprised by the sudden confusion on the grey-haired setter’s countenance.**

**He lightly chuckled, scratching the back of his head, “Oh, I thought you weren’t worried in the slightest. Wasn’t expecting that, to be honest.”**

**To his surprise, Kageyama took it as a sort of personal offense, yet one that he was willing to swallow his pride for as he hit Sugawara with a new look, one that mixed curiosity with restraint of some sense of investigative instinct.**

**“Why’d you say that?”**

“Kageyama, you aren’t a detective, ya know,” Hinata teased, poking his best friend’s cheek, who only flushed in slight embarrassment.

Bokuto snickered, “Hey, maybe it’s what he does.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

**Sugawara dismissively waved his hand, “Well, because you’re superior to me in athleticism and talent.”**

**Kageyama brushed that off, letting his frustration show as his shoulders tensed, as if lecturing Suga as he got in his face, “You can’t make up for a lack of experience that easily!”**

“Kageyama, chill,” Kuroo lightheartedly chuckled. “It’s not the end of the world.”

“You are literally hyping him up when he doesn’t want to be,” Kenma sighed, recalling the various times that Tora had done so, in the name of ‘guts’ or whatever he called it.

**Kageyama earned a sour, yet completely concerned expression on his face, shoulders tensing as Hinata and Tanaka called out, “Suga-san!”**

**“‘I-I have t-to…” his lips curled awkwardly, not sure how to spit the words out as sweat started to trail down his face. “E-Earn t-the t-trust of my teammates…”**

Kenma was about to speak, but refrained, subconsciously shifted from the slight realization that it was a little insensitive, especially to someone who cared about volleyball as much as Kageyama.

Oikawa, on the other hand, spoke up anyways, though his words weren’t nearly as harsh while his tone had a little bite to him, “Well, at least he’s learned his lesson.”

Iwaizumi nodded, “I hear there’s a guy from...Hyougo prefecture that was sort of like that. Not sure if he did, but yeah, you’ve actually made progress.”

_ Him…  _ Oikawa narrowed his eyes.  _ I can’t remember his name for the life of me...but he’s the current top setter in Japan. And he was just as arrogant as Tobio-chan. Is that really good for either of them, the paths they’ve taken, if they’re different?  _ He didn’t voice his thoughts, but Iwaizumi noticed that there was something nagging at the back of Oikawa’s mind.

**Sugawara gaped, somewhat impressed but surprised at the sudden outburst,** **_That match in junior high must’ve really gotten to him._ **

“See? Even Suga-chan seems to notice. Chill out,” Kuroo snorted.

_ Suga-chan?  _ Hinata blinked, not having heard the vice-captain referred to like that.

**“Therefore,” Kageyama took a step forward, his awkward look falling off, revealing his determined nature yet again, “I...will never...give up.”**

“You do  _ not  _ need to be so dramatic,” Hinata smirked, shaking the setter back and forth, only earning an eye roll from him.

“Says the guy who cried about promising to eventually beat me,” Kageyama countered with a playful smirk. “Which you still haven’t done, by the way.”

“Hey!”

**Sugawara stared at him for a moment before nodding with a light smile, taking his words as somewhat of a challenge, “Yeah. I won’t give up, either.”**

**The footsteps behind Kageyama got louder, and eventually, Hinata and Tanaka caught up, the former bringing his bike with him as Tanaka waved erratically, both of them smiling like bumbling fools.**

**“Suga-san!” He called out. “Daichi-san said he’ll buy us pork buns!” Of course, this explained the slight bit of drool collecting at the edge of Tanaka’s mouth, appetite clearly at its peak.**

“Gross,” Kenma’s nose wrinkled. “Shouyou, don’t ever be like him. Please.” He shuddered, imagining his friend becoming such a terror to hang out with, like Tora could be sometimes.

Hinata whined, “Aww, but why? He’s so cool!”

Kenma interrupted him, “Please, for the love of all that is holy, I know you look up to him, and I know you think he’s cool, but please. Don’t. For me.”

Kageyama snickered, “You wanted to be like Tanaka?” He held his hands up in defense, before slapping one hand to his mouth to hide the laugh, though Hinata could feel him shaking on the couch from laughter.

Bokuto interrupted, “Yeah! Don’t be like him! Be like me!” He sent a charming smirk their way, though Hinat merely smiled brightly in return, nodding fervently. Bokuto didn’t know what to take away from that.

“Actually, that might be a worse choice,” Kuroo mused, leaning back a little. “Having another one of you? Not a good idea.” Bokuto smacked him on the side, though had an amused glint in his eyes nonetheless.

“Exactly,” Kenma nodded, adamant. “Please don’t be like that.”

Hinata groaned, giving in, “Fine…”

_ Whipped.  _ Akaashi rolled his eyes playfully, though he kept it to himself.  _ Both of them.  _ However, when he caught Kenma sending him a curious glance, he only let out a quiet laugh, leaving his fellow setter a little confused.

**Sugawara continued, nodding to the spiker before looking at Kageyama, “You know, Aoba Johsai’s where most of the athletes from Kitagawa Daiichi go to, right?”**

**“Yeah, you could say that,” Kageyama nodded.**

Kageyama hummed, “Oikawa-san...that started when you went to Aoba Johsai, right?”

The setter nodded, but bit the inside of his cheek as he admitted, “Kind of. There were a few people who’d chosen Aoba Johsai before, and while it wasn’t the majority of the choices--”

Iwaizumi explained quickly, nudging Oikawa for a moment, “He means that, while it was chosen most, it wasn’t an overwhelming amount like 50% or something like that.”

Oikawa continued, sending a thankful glance towards his best friend, “Exactly. So, while people had chosen Aoba Johsai before, a bunch of the team ended up going there after I decided to go there.”

“So why didn’t you choose to go to somewhere else, like Shiratorizawa?” Kenma asked curiously. While it wasn’t something that he was dying to know, he was curious why someone who seemed to have the greatest amount of skill, rivalling Bokuto or being tied with him, decided to go there instead of the current top team.

Oikawa’s cheerful, exuberant appearance turned dark for a moment, muttering with grit, “No way am I going there.”

“Ushijima,” Iwaizumi nodded, feeling a ferocity rise in him, though it wasn’t nearly as strong as Oikawa’s. “That’s why.”

Kenma raised an eyebrow, sharing a confused glance with Kuroo before brushing it off, easily registering that there was something sensitive there.

Bokuto hummed, “Ushiwaka? But he’s so cool! Imagine if you two were on the same team!”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, “Not the point, but cool.”

Even Kageyama picked up on the venom in his tone, though Hinata and Bokuto seemed to brush it off, thinking of it as them overthinking on Oikawa’s emotions.

**Hinata looked at the teen in front of him in realization,** **_So a bunch of Kageyama’s old teammates are going to that school._ **

**Sugawara scratched his right cheek, admitting hesitantly, “I’m only bringing it up since, well, I’m wondering if you might be a little uncomfortable with that.”**

**He admitted, somewhat taken aback but recovering quickly, “I might’ve been if they were on the same team as me.”**

**His expression was only enhanced further by the sunset lightly cascading on his face, the small amount of shadow adding a sort of solemnity to his eyes, “But, if they’re my opponents, no matter who it is, I’m going to face them with all I’ve got.”**

**Sugawara’s eyes softened, “I see. Good to know.”**

**Tanaka interrupted, “And you’re okay with this, Suga-san?”**

“He’s still on this?” Akashi muttered. “Look, I don’t think Tanaka’s a bad person. He seems pretty cool. I don’t dislike the guy…”

“But?” Kenma prompted, quickly knowing from the long prefacing that that was gonna be the end result.

“But,” Akaashi nodded. “He seems...more aggressive than he needs to be. Maybe more than Yamamoto. Like...he’s defending someone who doesn’t need to be defended. Seems kind of...ignorant, right? Like it’s saying they can’t defend themselves.”

Hinata blinked, before admitting, “I don’t like to think of it like that, but I get it...I just like to think of it as caring about your friends…But I do see how it can be overbearing…”

“Didn’t think you knew what that word meant,” Kageyama nodded, though accepted the message Hinata put out casually.

**“I...I…” Tanaka struggled to find the right words. “I can’t accept it! They aren’t treating Karasuno as a team!”**

_ Neither does Shiratorizawa’s coach, in a way,  _ Oikawa thought to himself.

**The setter chuckled, shrugging, “Sure, I’m a little frustrated.”**

**He put a hand on Kageyama’s shoulders, breaking out into a reassuring, kind smile, “But I also want to show them that Kageyama’s not the same person that he was in his junior high days.”**

**Hinata turned around, only for his eyes to suddenly reignite, energy surging back into them as he held his hands out.**

**Daichi continued, handing the boy one of the bags he’d bought containing pork buns, “Exactly. Plus, we’ll show them that Kageyama’s not the only one that he has to worry about.”**

“I guess that Shrimp’s pretty damn annoying, too,” Oikawa begrudgingly grumbled, crossing his arms childishly.

“Gotta say, he’d probably be a really good ace in a few years,” Iwaizumi nodded, looking at Hinata as if he was scanning him. “If he gets enough experience and can rely on both his thoughts and his nature rather than just pure instinct, he’d probably be like the Little Giant he idolizes.”

**He walked towards the rest of them, handing the other bag to the other three. Kageyama looked on curiously, Tanaka seemed like a child in a candy shop, and Sugawara simply nodded to Daichi, thankful.**

**“Right, Hinata?” Daichi turned, only to see Hinata already munching on one of the pork buns, looking like a dog that just got caught eating.**

**He awkwardly saluted, only to see the grave, almost empty husks of his teammates.**

**Yet, in a flash, as if they were zombies, Tanaka and Kageyama lifted Hinata up with one arm each as they grabbed his collar to lift him up, “Why are you eating first?!” Hinata held on for dear life to the bag of pork buns, trying to keep the one in his mouth intact.**

“Ooh, now that’s low,” Kenma teased, before being hit with a glare from Kuroo.

“You didn’t even wait for any of us before you started eating your Takoyaki!” Kuroo lectured, wagging his finger like an elderly substitute teacher in the 90s.

“That was because you wanted to have one of those weird cheering things. And I am  _ not  _ going to let my food come into contact with something that Lev had. Not happening.”

**“Are you kidding?!” Kageyama practically growled, before they heard the loud sounds of a door being pushed open.**

**“Hey, volleyball club!” A blond with unkempt hair wearing a cobbler apron while holding a broom shook the broom threateningly at them. “Don’t make a ruckus in front of the store!”**

**Tanaka looked at the man, irises shrinking dramatically as he simply uttered, “Sorry.” Right afterwards, the two of them dropped Hinata, who landed on the ground with a thud.**

“Isn’t that your coach?” Oikawa asked. “What’s he doing there?”

“Oh!” Hinata chirped, perking up. “He works at the convenience store that his family runs! He just became our coach because we didn’t have one.”

Kageyama nodded, “And because he heard that we were going to face off against Nekoma. Since Coach Ukai is his grandfather, it’s sort of an inherent, almost genetic rivalry for Nekoma that he’s probably got in him.”

“And a rivalry that he’ll never win,” Kuroo smirked, with Kenma lightly smiling in amusement as Hinata stuck out his tongue at the pair.

**As Hinata got up from the ground, still chewing on a bite from the pork bun, he looked at his team, a little bit of awe in his eyes,** **_That’s right…_ **

**_“Volleyball club…”_ ** **Hinata heard his words ring through his ears.** **_Everyone...we’re in the volleyball club together…_ **

Bokuto whistled, “I dunno what I’d do without a team, Hinata!”

Akaashi smiled at the ace, “Well, you better join a team the moment you graduate.”

**He felt the memory of standing alone near the net come back to him, before gratefully pushing it away in favor of seeing Kageyama walk up to Sugawara, politely asking, “Sorry, is there a curry pork bun?”**

**Daichi lightly bowed to the older man while the latter lectured, “You guys gotta make sure you eat your dinner properly!”**

**Tanaka, on the other hand, called out to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, who’d seemed to had finished cleaning up at the gym, “Hey, you guys! Come ‘ere and eat too!”**

**“Thanks!” Yamaguchi smiled as he started jogging towards them, though Tsukishima maintained his leisurely pace.**

**Hinata held onto his partially eaten pork bun, a shaky yet pure smile on his face,** **_That’s right...we’re all...on the same team._ **

Even Kageyama felt a little warmth in his heart in that, sending the short middle blocker an uncharacteristically gentle smile as he ruffled his hair, far softer than his normal attempts to mutilate Hinata’s scalps.

Bokuto and Oikawa nodded sagely at the boy, understanding what he felt to some degree in a way that felt heavier than how the others might’ve felt it.

**As a few minutes passed, a boiling kettle of tea sat, the teens having gathered in the adult’s supermarket.**

**Daichi pointed something out on the notebook for a moment, “Kageyama, after you’re done eating, could I ask you something?” Kageyama nodded.**

**The adult, who’d seemed to run the supermarket by himself, leaned back, kicking his feet up onto the counter, a cigarette moving around in his mouth for just a moment.**

**“Oy, don’t make a ruckus,” he lazily instructed, met only with a kind nod from Sugawara. Satisfied enough, he redirected his attention to Kageyama, who’d sat down with Daichi and Sugawara at a hastily set up table.**

“God, I wish every supermarket had a super chill guy running it like you do,” Bokuto lamented dramatically. “Ours always kicks us out.”

Akaashi simply explained, incredibly blunt, “That’s ‘cause you always try to grab his entire supply of sour gummy worms.”

Bokuto gulped, feeling a chill run down his spine from how cold the words were, even if they were completely true.

Kenma nodded, “Most of the time, the guy running the supermarket that we go to isn’t super irritable, but he’s not so hospitable to let that sort of thing happen in his store.”

**Daichi tapped on the table a few times, “I was wondering about Hinata’s position during the upcoming practice match. What do you think?”**

**Kageyama had a finger on his chin, before opening up to speak, only to be cut off by the transition scene.**

“Bathroom break!” Bokuto and Hinata chanted, as they both got up to sprint to the bathroom.

Akaashi leaned over to Kenma, before whispering, “Whipped.” Kenma, even though he thought he knew Fukurodani’s setter rather well, only raised an eyebrow, completely confused as to the implication of his statement.

Kuroo hummed, “Yo, Oikawa. How was the practice match against Karasuno?”

“Well,” Oikawa tilted his head, trying to remember it properly, “For me, it was more of an observation than a match. More...for me to see how they were doing, than anything.”

Iwaizumi grunted, “That was mainly ‘cause you were injured. But, even while you were in the match, you didn’t put in the same amount of effort you normally would.”

“For me?” Oikawa admitted. “I kind of wanted to see how everything was going on, you know? Since I know that Kageyama’s a good setter, I was wondering how he would affect Karasuno, since we’re in the same prefecture and all. I know all the other schools decently well, but Karasuno...well, you know. They became an anomaly that I just didn’t know about. We, as a team, would’ve been unprepared. You know?”

The ace nodded reluctantly, swallowing his pride to agree, since he knew that Oikawa did hold a valid point in that.

Once everyone had gathered back on the couch, Hinata excitedly pressed the play button.

**The next day had come. The Karasuno volleyball team sat in a semicircle formation, all facing towards Daichi, who was in the center. While they had been sitting on the court, they’d been positioned right next to the net, the captain holding up a whiteboard to detail the plan.**

**“Now, concerning the positions for the practice match…” He held out the whiteboard to make it a little clearer, as the marker he’d written with had smudged just a little bit. “I think this is how we’ll do it.”**

**Six red magnets had been placed on the simply drawn court, with four extras on the sidelines. From left to right in the row closest to the next were Tanaka, Hinata, and Daichi. In the row further from the net from left to right had been Kageyama, Tsukishima, and Ennoshita, with all their positions marked accordingly. Sugawara, Narita, Kinoshita, and Yamaguchi were on the sidelines.**

**Daichi explained, “I want to use Kageyama and Hinata as a duo…” the two mentioned teens sent semi-murderous looks towards each other, though neither held actual malice in their glare. That was good, especially in Daichi’s eyes in terms of how much he’d have to work on herding the two.**

**“And Tsukishima, since he’s one of our few tall players.”**

“Yo, I’m kinda curious,” Oikawa started. “How many...formations do you guys use as a team? Like, starting formations.”

After seeing Hinata and Kageyama tilt their heads, somewhat confused, Bokuto stepped up to elaborate a little further, “Starting teams. For example, whether or not I’m on the right, left, or even in the rotation. Or...just certain sets of players for certain purposes. That help?”

Kageyama nodded, having understood it a little better, “Well, we’ve got a few, but since there aren’t a lot of players on our team, we don’t really have way too much to work with.”

Kenma nodded in understanding, “I get that...Nekoma’s made presets for different teams we face, since we do have multiple members.”

“Presets?”

“Team sets. It’s just easier to say,” Kuroo explained, and it instantly became clear who had taught Kenma the reasoning behind using it, and why he’d use it in the first place.

**“I want to see how you all fight against Seijoh,” Daichi explained, receiving an extremely lethargic nod from Tsukishima.**

**Yamaguchi looked down a little bit, trying to hold in his disappointment,** **_I’m the only first-year out of the loop._ **

Oikawa really didn’t want to bash on the shy, timid boy. He really didn’t. In fact, he was quite a fan of the kid, even if he could be a frustration to deal with during the games.

He’d seen it a few times before, in certain people, but he could tell that Yamaguchi truly did care about the well-beings of others, and was an incredibly selfless boy. Qualities he believed he didn’t have, but ones that always earned his respect.

And yet…  _ He’s not as talented as the rest of them. He...doesn’t have that natural affinity for volleyball that the other three have. _

To Oikawa, that was a great shame. He may not have had the same burning passion for the sport that Hinata or Kageyama had, but Yamaguchi truly did seem to care, truly did want to grow and improve. If not for himself, then for his friends.

Oikawa took a deep breath, letting the frustration on Yamaguchi’s behalf slowly flow out of him.

_ Getting angry for him won’t do anything. It’s up to him to grow, even if that sounds horrible. It always is when you don’t grow as fast. _

**Tanaka interrupted boldly, “More importantly, you’re using Hinata in a position where height matters?” Hearing Tanaka mention it seemed to fire off something in Hinata’s brain, who raised his hand quickly.**

**“Wait, middle blocker?” Hinata read the words on the whiteboard. “I’m in the same position as that lanky jerk, Tsukishima?” The mentioned teen only sent a mildly annoyed look, as if Hinata wasn’t even aware of his presence in the gym.**

Kageyama smirked, “Imagine playing the same position as Tsukishima.”

Hinata sputtered, “Hey, it’s not like it was my choice! Besides, Kuroo’s a middle blocker too!”

“Oh, Kuroo’s not the person you want on your side,” Kenma interrupted, sending a smile to his childhood friend that was way too sweet to be sincere.

**Takeda stuttered for a moment, opening a small book to a specific page while holding up a hand to speak up, “O-Oh, just a second. Can I read up on the positions?” The teens looked at the book, seeing the title of it being** **_Volleyball How-To._ **

**Takeda read out, “Setter.”**

**_A model displaying both Kageyama and Sugawara in action, the first with a calm expression while Suga had a focused, yet more intense expression on his face. The video in the background showed Kageyama setting to Kindaichi, before Izumi came onto the screen._ **

**“The control tower that tosses for spikes, and organizes the offense.”**

“We also know setters as the awesomest players!” Oikawa sang, looking at Kageyama for support only to see a grave expression on his face. “Hey! What’s that for, Tobio-chan?”

Hinata snorted, “I told you, you literally speak like a lame author. Weren’t you the one who used ‘Control Tower’ also?” He smirked, seeing Kageyama flush and shudder, before smacking Hinata on the shoulder in petty revenge.

Kenma lightly smiled, thinking to himself,  _ Control Tower sounds kind of cool. Has a sort of Metroidvania ring to it. _

Akaashi hummed, biting the inside of his cheek, “Do they have anyone for proper receiving?” He didn’t speak loudly, though, and Kageyama and Hinata ended up not hearing his question, something the setter was fine with.

**Takeda moved on, “Wing Spiker.”**

**_A new model came up, with Tanaka and Daichi. Tanaka was in the air, read for a spike, while the captain had been watching the ball warily, preparing for a proper receive. The video behind them showed Tanaka spiking the ball, knocking off of Tsukishima’s right arm to score a point._ **

**“An all-around, well-balanced player who attacks the core of the opponents.”**

Bokuto pounded his chest proudly, “Hey, hey, hey, that’s me!” He looked around the room, meeting Iwaizumi’s eyes who nodded with a confident smirk on his face, a mutual nod of acknowledgement being shared between the two aces.

**“Middle Blocker,” Takeda read out his last role that he wanted ot bring up.**

**_The third model appeared on screen, Hinata and Tsukishima in the foreground. The former had his eyes open as he looked at the ball, jumping up for a spike. Tsukishima, on the other hand, held his arms up with his black shirt riding up ever so slightly for a block. In the background, a video of Kindaichi spiking past Yukigaoka’s students followed up by Tsukishima smacking the ball back down onto Hinata’s side of the cort._ **

**“They defend against the opponent’s offense and scores points, mainly using quick attacks. Furthemore, he plays the decoy to draw the opponent’s blockers away.”**

“Hey, that’s me!” Hinata perked up, Kuroo sending him a smirk with a nod, only for that nod to be returned with a bright, joyful smile from the shorter boy.

Kageyama coughed dramatically, catching Hinata’s attention, “Notice how the eight of us were chosen for a special reason, and half of us are setters. Therefore, setters are the best.”

“No, they aren’t!”

**“Would you say these are right?” Takeda questioned, putting his book down to look at Daichi, who nodded in confirmation.**

**He scratched the back of his head, admitting, “There are, of course, positions exclusively for defense, but thsoe should work for now..”**

Akaashi spoke up a little louder, his curiosity growing, “The libero. He didn’t bring that up. Why?”

Hinata blinked, before registering why, “‘Oh, that’s because Nishinoya-senpai wasn’t with us then!”

“Uh...why?” Kenma tilted his head. From the minimal amount of time he’d gotten to see the libero speak, he knew that Nishinoya was one who clearly wanted to keep playing volleyball and continue doing what he perceived as fun.

“Oh, that’s kinda just ‘cause of his behavior,” Kageyama explained. “He broke some stuff in front of the vice principal. I’m not sure what happened.”

Kuroo hummed, “Well, he did seem really energetic. I can sort of see that happening, especially with him being a wild card. Best libero in your guys’ prefecture, right?” Oikawa nodded to confirm it. He’d learned all about Karasuno’s team, especially the nickname of the ‘Guardian Deity.’

**Kageyama pointed at Hinata, declaring, “Then you’re the ultimate decoy!”**

**Hinata perked up at the title, “The ultimate…”**

**He fell on his knees dramatically, the world around him empty, like the room where Squidward had went when he wanted to be all alone, “Decoy?”**

**He muttered, “There’s something uninspiring about that.”**

“That is such a lame nickname, it’s not even funny,” Kenma dryly stated, as if it was fact, before looking at Kageyama. How the hell did you ever think that was something that needed to be said?”

Kageyama shrugged, “It seemed cool before I said it.”

**The setter pointed out, trying to contradict the lack of pizzazz of the name, “We’ll let you score lots of points using quick attacks, then direct the opponent’s blockers’ attention to you. That’s when the other spikers will come into play.”**

**A memory popped up in Hinata’s mind.** **_He jumped up high for Kageyama’s set, closing his eyes as he swung, only to hit air. However, once he opened his eyes, he noticed the ball heading over to Tanaka, who spiked without a single person up in the air to contest the spike._ **

**“Oh…” Hinata muttered.**

**Kageyama dirtily smirked, something malicious in his eyes as he spoke, “Big guys like Tsukishima will fall like idiots to your movements…”**

Kageyama scoffed, kicking the couch lightly, “Now if that only worked on Aone.”

“Ah, the read-blocker?” Oikawa recalled, Kageyama nodded. “Yeah, that’s the main type of blocker it just won’t work on. Plus, that guy’s an incredibly blocker anyways, so that just makes him even tougher to beat.”

Iwaizumi whistled lightly, “Yeah, spiking past him wasn’t easy. It was like he was breathing down my neck every single time I tried to spike during our practice games.”

**“That’ll feel pretty damn good, won’t it?” Kageyama finished, Hinata nodding fervently at the idea.**

**Yamaguchi pointed out, semi-halfheartedly while the other half didn’t know whether it was serious or just out of habit, “Hey, you’re not calling Tsukki an idiot, are you?”**

**The taller boy muttered quietly, “Shut it, Yamaguchi.” Of course, the pinch server only smiled lightly and apologized like normal.**

**Kageyama narrowed his eyes, his malicious eyes honing in on Hinata, “On the other hand, if you’re not effective, you know that almost all of the other attacks will fail.”**

Kenma held back a snicker, knowing how strongly pressure could affect one of his best friends, “Yeah, definitely the right words to use on Hinata.”

The other setter blushed, trying to defend himself, “H-Hey! To be fair, I didn’t know him that well.”

“Did he seem like the type of person who seemed like he would do well before the game?” Kenma pointed out, remembering the first episode where Hinata was about to summon twenty-five spirits from who-knows-where only to vomit them into the toilet.

Kageyama stayed silent for a little bit, before giving in reluctantly, “Fine, I’ll give that to you.”

**In an instant, Hinata tensed up, eyes widening as worry flooded them.**

**Daichi walked up behind Kageyama, not so subtly whispering to him with lecturing eyes, “Hey...Don’t put so much pressure on him.” Kageyama only tilted his head, unfamiliar with whatever the captain was talking abot, though the quiet mutters were enough to catch his attention.**

**“All fail...all fail...all fail…” Hinata droned almost silently, eyes empty and his posture slack, like all the energy within him had faded out into obscurity.**

**Daichi pointed quickly and sternly, seeing how quickly he was proven correct, “See?!”**

Hinata blushed a deep red at hearing his friends lightly chuckle at the sight of it, though he did know that it was all in good fun.

However, he couldn’t help but wonder how they’d react to him actually puking.

**Tanaka came into their conversation brusquely, speaking up, “What about blocking, though?”**

**The almost bald teen imagined it in his head, “Even if he can jump high, the taller players will reach the highest point of their jump faster.” His mind immediately went to Tsukishima, who he could argue could definitely reach around the same jumping height as Hinata.**

**Daichi confirmed his hypothesis, “Yeah, the reason we want Hinata to be the focus of blockers isn’t to smack down the spikes.” He thought of Yamaguchi spiking against Tsukishima, which would definitely result in the latter smashing the ball back onto Yamaguchi’s side of the court in a one-on-one battle.**

**“His goal is merely to touch them.” He planned it out in his head, where Yamaguchi spiked again, this time against Hinata, and the ball flew slightly upwards upon contact, though losing most of its momentum after Hinata’s block. “With Hinata’s crazy reflexes, he can touch the opponent’s spikes, and slow down their momentum.”**

**He recalled a moment where Tanaka and Hinata were practicing before the match, in which Tanaka spiked against Hinata and the ball flew past him, but not before smacking against Hinata’s palms, slowing it down drastically.**

**“We can set our pace from there, and make our counterattack.”**

Kenma bit lightly on his thumbnail, listening to Daichi’s strategy. He narrowed his eyes somewhat, realizing the effectiveness of the strategy. He knew Inouka was quite agile, being able to even smack down Hinata’s quick after repeated exposure, but was there a way to use a blocker’s disadvantage in a way that’d make the job easier?

He hummed to himself, content as he thought about the various new strategies he might be able to come up with that worked in Nekoma’s favor, especially ones that didn’t focus on shutting enemies down, but utilizing their attacks. After all, Kuroo, their best blocker, probably couldn’t keep smacking down attacks the entire game.

Oikawa whistled, “Not bad. He must be your guys’ strategist, right?”

Hinata nodded, “Yep!”

Kuroo snorted, “You already know Kenma’s got something up his sleeve for that, especially now that that road’s been opened up to him.”

**Tanaka raised a suspicious eyebrow, “It’s not going to go that smoothly right off the bat.”**

**“Yeah, it probably won’t,” Daichi admitted with a light sigh, knowing that it’d be being far too optimistic to think so.**

**“Huh?”**

**The captain shrugged, “Right off the bat, anyways.”**

**He put a hand on his hip, suggesting, “But we should still try it. Maybe we’ll learn something as we go along.”**

Iwaizumi found himself nodding along. To him, you had to take risks if you wanted to widen your horizons. While a slower, steadier pace of simply improving fundamentals and basic skills was practically guaranteed improvement, having new variables and the ability to play around with it a bit couldn’t hurt, especially when the stakes were as low as a simple practice game.

Bokuto, as well, could understand the choice. Even though it was done out of necessity rather than an intuitive understanding of what one could do, hiss choice to learn how to do straight shots as well as he did was one that he was willing to hone over time, even if he failed to do so before. A risk that he took as a captain for his team, to add a new variable to the mix, one that he was confident they could handle.

**“It’s a practice match, after all.”**

Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, though it was directed at nothing in particular. He was just fond of having his intuition confirmed, as would most people in most situations.

**Tanaka nodded, understanding it a little better, “Right.”**

**Daichi walked up to the net, tugging at the very bottom of it, “Anyways, for mid-air battles, we also have Tsukishima and Kageyama, both of whom can match Hinata’s jumps.”**

**He turned towards the boy, an orange tuft of hair popping up on screen, “So, Hinata, have confidence and--”**

**The first-year interrupted him in a frenzy of panic, voice cracking violently, “Y-Yes, I’ll do my best! I-I’ll score lots of points! I-I’ll be a d-decoy!”**

**His stance was extremely stiff, yet fragile, like a light breeze would knock him over. His back was straightened, head commpletely facing forward, eyes alert, and Daichi could swear he saw Hinata’s heart pounding out of its chest.**

**“I-I’ll serve, block, quick, everything!”**

**Daichi quickly walked up to the boy, putting two hands on his shoulders, “Hey, now, calm down.”**

**However, the moment he did so, Hinata…**

**“He blew a fuse! Hinata blew a fuse!”**

Oikawa snickered, and Iwaizumi was barely able to gather himself enough to reprimand the setter, finding a wave of amusement wash over him.

Bokuto pressed a hand to his mouth, though his loud wheezes and violent laughter wasn’t muffled in the slightest, Kuroo joining him with his own hyena-like howling.

Akaashi tried to hide it, but the slight chuckle escaped out of him, one that the first-year near him shared, as Kageyama ruffled Hinata’s head before the two broke out into a frenzy of back-and-forth banter.

Hinata ducked his head in embarrassment, a deep red blush plastered right on his face as Kenma pat his back, trying to comfort him soothingly, though his tiny laughs weren’t doing him any favors.

“Aw, I was hoping that wouldn’t be shown,” Hinata groaned, leaning his head back as he slapped his forehead.

Kenma quipped, a gentle smirk on his face, “Maybe you shouldn’t have blown a fuse.”

Hinata pouted, earning a lighthearted eye roll from Kenma.

**The next day came at Karasuno, petals gently falling onto the sidewalk from the tree outside.**

**As Daichi walked through the hallways, a neutral, almost stoic look on his face, he heard a voice call out to him, “Sawamura!”**

**A hand came around the door to grip around its frame, and the volleyball captain turned around to see a new face before smiling lightly, “Hey, Michimiya.” The short-haired girl smiled as she squeezed past a pair of students walking the opposite direction to talk to Daichi.**

“Michimiya?” Hinata wondered quietly. “I wonder why Captain hasn’t talked to us about her. Who is she?”

Kageyama hummed, “Isn’t she the captain of the girls’ volleyball team for Karasuno?”

Hinata blinked, clearly not knowing the actual answer.

Kuroo snorted, “Of course he’d only talk to literally another volleyball captain.”

“I have no idea what that’s supposed to imply about him,” Kenma shrugged. “But sure.”

**“Heard you’re having a practice match against Seijoh tomorrow?” Michimiya questioned, walking up to the captain casually. “I’m kinda surprised they agreed to it.”**

“Wait, I thought you said that you brought up the practice match to us!” Hinata accused, realizing the actual truth of the situation, though the setter simply brushed it off.

“It was close enough. Coach said that there were a bunch of teams that were having practice games, and we had a bunch of requests. When we saw Karasuno on the list, I just jumped on it.”

Iwaizumi shrugged, not seeing an issue with it, “Meh. He helped set up the details of the match, so I can’t really say he didn’t do anything about it.”

**Daichi nodded, “Yeah, Takeda-sensei did the hard work for us.”**

**“But...aren’t you scared?” Michimiya hesitantly asked, her cheerful introductory smile slowly turning into a concerned frown. “Seijoh was in the prefecture’s top four last year, right? Won’t they beat the crap out of us?”**

This time, though, Iwaizumi did have something to say, “We probably could’ve it our main goddamn setter was actually there for the game. You barely even tried to receive their super fast quick thing they do!”

Oikawa recoiled under the ace’s harsh glare, but still defended himself, “First off, I was injured! Plus, I already told you that it was mainly for, like, scouting purposes and not a legitimate match!”

“Injured,” Iwaizumi spit it out. “Injured because you couldn’t manage your health and kept practicing far past your body’s limit.”

“So?” Oikawa crossed his arms, snorting indignantly. “If I don’t push myself past my limits, I’m never gonna make it where I want to go. Shoot for the stars, right?”

“You’re an idiot.”

“Sure I am.”

**The captain chucked lightly, a light, satisfied smirk coming onto his features, “Well, we actually have some rather interesting first-years…”**

**Michimiya lightly giggled, “I heard about them.” Daichi opened his eyes again, his confident look turning to one of surprise.**

**She held up a finger to prove her point, “I heard that as soon as they joined the club, they blew off the vice principal’s rug…”**

**Instantly, Daichi lightly slapped a hand over her mouth, urgently whispering, “D-D-D-D-Don’t!” His usual composure was blown out the window for a moment of utter concern.**

Kuroo snorted, “Maybe we should bring her to the training camp. Maybe she’ll finally get Daichi to loosen up or something.” He shrugged. He doubted that he’d ever be on the same court as Sawamura and see him in a moment where he wasn’t being far too tense, at least in Kuroo’s opinion, but that wasn’t a huge issue.

Bokuto shrugged, “Why’s he takin’ it so seriously? It’s volleyball, it’s supposed to be fun!”

Akaashi interrupted, “Says Mr. Emo Mode.”

At the sight of Bokuto starting to fall into a sulk, Hinata tilted his head, “Emo...mode?”

“You don’t wanna know.”

**As Michimiya nodded with wide eyes, Daichi slowly removed his hand, softly sighing before regaining his normal appearance, “They’re still imperfect, but if those guys start playing their part...I think Karasuno’s gonna reach a new peak.”**

**He scratched the back of his head, slightly embarrassed at how he sounded, “Well, that’s what I think.”**

**Michimiya simply whistled, somewhat impressed.**

Kenma hummed, “Sounds like he’s just trying to use you.” He took a sharp inhale, registering what his words really meant.

He cringed lightly, “That’s...that came out worse than I meant. I just mean that he sees you guys as...something completely different than most players.”

**A few hours later, Kageyama, Hinata, and Sugawara were walking towards a few rooms away from the building.**

**Kageyama asked, somewhat surprised, “Are first-years allowed to use the club rooms?”**

**As they got to the stairs, Suga nodded, “Mhm. It doesn’t matter.”**

“Is that really a question you have to ask?” Oikawa prompted. “I thought it was more of a given.”

“Which is why Coach made you run twenty suicides as punishment,” Iwaizumi reminded him, causing the setter to cringe. “Then again, I can’t blame you for thinking so. Sounds kind of stupid to not let first-years not use the club room like everyone else.”

Bokuto tilted his head, “Yo, Kuroo, is that something at Nekoma?”

Kenma shook his head, speaking for the rooster head, “No, it isn’t. Though, I feel like the club room can get rather crowded with everyone in there, so there is some merit in letting them have different rooms.”

**Just a moment later, the grey-haired setter opened the door, greeting everyone, “Hey.” He was met with the nods of the second-years, who were already present. Narita and Kinoshita were packing their sports bags, Ennoshita was putting on his socks on the floor, and Tanaka was starting to take off his pants.**

**Hinata looked around the small room in awe, before Sugawara lightly chuckled, “There’s nothing really impressive about this place.” He took off his bag. “It’s just an ordinary club room.”**

**The short first-year admitted sheepishly, “I’ve never been in a club room before.”**

**As Kageyama walked off, Hinata recalled, “Wait, the Little Giant used this room too, didn’t he?”**

Kuroo chuckled lightheartedly, “Ah, I forgot that’s what started this entire thing up in the first place.”

Oikawa hummed, “So, you two wouldn’t have even done your quick stuff if it weren’t for the Little Giant?”

“Well,” Iwaizumi rolled his eyes, though there was a glint of amusement in them. “I suppose that the Little Giant is affecting the prefecture even after he graduated Karasuno.”

**He walked further into the room, noticing one of the posters in there, most likely hung up by Tanaka, as its depiction of multiple girls in bikinis on a beach was right next to the cabinets.**

**The spiker glanced away from his current task of getting prepared to look at Hinata, “Tomorrow’s finally your debut match, Hinata.”**

**The first-year tensed up heavily, like a spring being compressed as Tanaka continued, “Even if it’s only a practice match.”**

**Sugawara was finishing buttoning up his shirt as Tanaka continued, “Seijoh’s gym is huge. Their players are pretty huge, too. Don’t get intimidated.”**

“Eh, I wouldn’t really say we’re that intimidating,” Oikawa politely denied, leaning a little further back as he ate another chip slowly.

Akaashi gulped down another sip of water before speaking, “Well, Seijoh is a top four gym in the prefecture, right? I suppose you would have some reputation like that.”

Bokuto nodded, “Yeah, I hear all about you from Ushiwaka when Nationals comes around?”

Iwaizumi tilted his head, somewhat curious, “About Aoba Johsai or Oikawa in particular?”

Bokuto nodded when Iwaizumi finished, prattling on, “Oh, mainly about Oikawa. He seems obsessed with you joining. Whenever he talks about you, he always goes ‘Oikawa should have joined Shiratorizawa!’ or something like that.”

Instantly, Oikawa shuddered, feeling a dark malice within him at the mere statement, as if Ushijima was provoking him miles away, likely when he was on his morning jog or something of the sort.

**As Daichi walked into the door, he greeted them with a wave, “‘Sup.”**

**Suga nodded, “Hey.”**

**Tanaka greeted in turn, “Heyo.”**

**Hinata stuttered lightly, “In…”**

**“In?” Tanaka prompted, waiting for Hinata to finish.**

**“Intimidated?” He continued, finding his words as his face lacked the same fire it did, though wasn’t lethargic or empty by any means. “Of course, I won’t be! I’ll do great, you’ll see!”**

Hinata mentally groaned, remembering what was about to happen, and Kageyama pursed his lips, trying to hide his laughter.

**“Uh, Hinata…” Tanaka interrupted him, pointing at his...pants. “The thing you’re trying to put on your legs is your jacket.”**

“Pfft,” Kuroo wheezed, seeing Hinata say that with a straight face.

“Oh, Jesus,” Oikawa groaned, feeling second-hand embarrassment from it. No, third-hand, since he wasn’t even there for the event. It was so embarrassinng that it hurt him through time.

Iwaizumi, on the other hand, only sent Hinata a pitying look, remembering what happened in the practice game itself.  _ I would  _ _ not  _ _ have survived if I was this jittery for like, an hour and a half before the game. _

Kenma facepalmed, not even able to gain any joy from it. Instead, his mind wandered to what he would’ve felt had he done something like Hinata had just done on the T.V.

“Why is it always me?” Hinata whined, realizing that there weren’t any really embarrassing moments for Kageyama or any of his teammates.

Kageyama suggested, teasing him, “Maybe it’s ‘cause you’re the only one who does stupid things.” He smacked his back, causing Hinata to jolt forward before glaring at him.

Akaashi rolled his eyes, cracking a soft smile, “I mean, you  _ are  _ the main character here. It’d be a weird story if we didn’t learn more about the protagonist, right?”

Hinata pouted, “Then why can’t they show me in a cooler light than this?” He gestured to him wearing his jacket like pants on the television, almost indignant as he silently begged for someone to press ‘play’ already so that he wouldn’t have to see that for any longer. He’d wanted to forget that even happened.

**Tanaka teased, “Is that a fashion statement or something?”**

**Daichi and Kageyama looked on, confused, before the former turned to Kageyama, whispering with half-concerned, half-dead eyes, “Kageyama, is Hinata going to be all right tomorrow?”**

**“Will he be all right?” Kageyama repeated, tilting his head in slight confusion. “What do you mean?”**

**Daichi spoke, “Hinata’s only experience is at that one match in junior high.”**

**Hinata, however, was currently blushing in a literal radiance, looking like he was literally emitting light itself from how bright the blush was, trying to convince Tanaka that he wasn’t embarrassed in a legendary failure, all while Tanaka was cackling in amusement.**

“I did not know that humans could blush so brightly,” Akaashi mused, cracking a smirk.

Bokuto whistled, taking a sip of his soda, “Gotta say, though, I haven’t seen anyone put their jacket on as pants either.”

“Oh, not you too!” Hinata bemoaned, feeling himself start to blush. He slapped his cheeks, trying to hide the blush, though Kageyama and Kenma could see the faint pink on him through the small gaps in his fingers that he allowed through.

**“Is that how you get dressed?!” Tanaka wheezed, grinning wide, clutching at his sides because of how hard he had laughed.**

**“No, it’s not! I was daydreaming, that’s all!” Hinata defended, voice squeaky as he held his jacket close to him. His mouth shook, his cheeks somehow becoming redder in a way that most would think impossible.**

**Daichi watched him fret about, humming as a hint of concern seeped into his voice, “I think he’s really anxious and worried because of that. That’s kind of why I think he’d be quite nervous.”**

**Kageyama shrugged, looking between Daichi and Hinata, “Well, everyone gets nervous--”**

**“There, see?! You make light of the anxiety us cowards feel!” Sugawara irritatedly interrupted him, accusingly pointing a finger directly in Kageyama’s face, furrowed eyebrows as he spoke in an exasperated tone.**

Kenma shot an irritated look at Kuroo in turn, who merely shrugged casually.

“You made me play volleyball,” Kenma deadpanned, speaking in a semi-harsh tone. “I could’ve just had my life playing video games and chilling in my room, but no, you made me play volleyball.”

“What, do you regret it?” Kuroo smirked at him. “After all, don’t you younguns’ need to get out an exercise nowadays?”

Kenma scoffed, crossing his arms as he crossed one leg over the other, squeezing back in between Hinata and Akaashi, “I don’t regret it, but that doesn’t mean I love it. I’m not like Tora, you know.”

“As if I’d ever even think about comparing you two,” Kuroo rolled his eyes. “However, you two really try for others when it would make them happy.”

Kenma shut up, trying to not prove his point. 

**Kageyama jolted, shoulders tensing from being startled.**

**Daichi, however, put a hand on his head, sighing as his eyes seemed a little downcast, “No matter what I say, it adds pressure.”**

**He remembered the time he even only offered keys out.**

**_“Hinata,” he called out, holding out a keyring to the young boy whose back was facing him. “Here’s the keys to the club room.”_ **

**_“D-Don’t worry!” He instantly squeaked out. “I-I’ll bring it with me!”_ **

**_Daichi blinked, “I never told you where to keep it, so I brought it with me.”_ **

**_Instantly, Hinata still broke out into an alternating pattern of bowing in a quick fashion followed by an even quicker apology, repeating over and over again endlessly._ **

Kuroo stretched out a little, grabbing one of the pop tarts from the table in front of him, “Okay, I’ll admit.” He quickly scarfed down half of one, like an animal. “I would’ve said that it’s ‘cause he’s trying too hard, and that they’re normal and he’s just overreacting, but he isn’t overreacting in the slightest.”

“I think he could still stand to be a bit more lenient, but if that’s what was gonna happen every day, I understand him trying to rein everyone in,” Oikawa shrugged, glancing at Hinata. He wondered where all that courage during games itself went. It seemed he was always honed in, always focused, like nothing could knock him off balance. Yet, outside of the game, it seemed like the direct opposite was true.

Bokuto whistled, “I don’t have to have that problem!”

Akaashi rolled his eyes, “Kinda ‘cause you’re the captain by name only.”

**“You can’t really help it at first,” Kageyama shrugged, though his conversation was interrupted by the husk of a first-year boy, walking by like he’d just learned gogurt was just yogurt. “I think it’s just best to leave him alone.”**

**“I wonder…” Daichi hummed, hearing the door squeak closed.**

**On the other side, Hinata clenched his stomach, a mix of adrenaline, fear, misery, paranoia, and emotions that haven’t been described through words in all of history all forming on his face.**

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Iwaizumi muttered. “Jeez, it’s just a practice match.”

Hinata caustically looked at Kageyama, though there wasn’t any true malice in it, “Well, I probably wouldn’t have been so shaken up if you actually helped.”

“Don’t look at me!” Kageyama put a hand on his chest, deflecting the accusation. “It was Tanaka who got you all riled up.”

“Yeah, but he’s not here right now, so I can only blame you!” Hinata steamrolled over the obviously correct statement, going full Twitter mode through not admitting his fault. “That’s how it works!”

“It really isn’t, but sure,” Kenma shrugged, even though he wasn’t part of the argument at hand.

**_I have to do it right tomorrow…_ ** **Hinata told himself, his own thoughts as shaky as his voice.** **_This...this isn’t going to be like junior high, or the three-on-three the other day._ **

**His face moved around like there was a bug on it, shaking around in an attempt to maintain his composure. It seemed like he was doing his best to seem neutral, but he looked somewhat constipated.**

**He shuddered, seeing images of Yamaguchi, Narita, and Kinoshita,** **_Because I can be replaced!_ **

Oikawa saw Kuroo open his mouth in the smirk he always did when he felt like teasing someone, but instead of watching it happen, his subconscious spoke up before his mind could register what he was doing.

“I get that.”

Iwaizumi hit him with a look, prompting him to continue, a happy sadness in his voice, “I understand that feeling of wanting to stay on the court. After all, isn’t that the entire promise that you and Kageyama made?”

Hinata and Kageyama both nodded, causing Oikawa to keep going, “Yeah. I...I don’t want to ever stop playing volleyball, you know? I don’t wanna be replaced either. It’s...Being benched and seeing people play, and me being beneath them while they play? Disgusting.”

Bokuto looked downwards, “Yeah. I can’t let my team lose because I couldn’t do something as their ace, you know?” He could understand the feeling that Oikawa was talking about, and while he hadn’t thought about it being beneath the others, he knew what it meant to want to keep playing, to keep doing, to keep going.

It was all he needed.

**He shook his head, trying and failing to get the thought out of his mind,** **_I don’t want that! I don’t want to be replaced!_ ** **He continued to pace, to where exactly was the least of his concerns.** **_I’m finally going to stand on the court with a full team._ **

**He gulped, swallowing the thought down, getting it all the way through his mind,** **_I want to be there until the end._ **

**He suddenly felt a sudden pain stab at him in his stomach, as he quietly muttered to himself, “I can’t goof up. I can’t goof up.”**

“Yo, Hinata, didn’t you hit Kageyama while serving?” Iwaizumi casually asked, even though he knew the effect it’d have on the boy. He watched Hinata stutter for a moment, before looking between Iwaizumi and Kageyama. Of course, he tried avoiding Kageyama’s glare as the setter rolled his eyes, but waited for an answer anyways.

“Y-Yeah…” he admitted sheepishly, remembering how badly he had messed up then.

“Wait, what?” Oikawa asked. “I must’ve either been warming up or just haven’t been there! That would’ve been gold!” He lamented over his absence, all while Kenma poked Hinata’s side.

“You hit him?” Kenma asked, getting an embarrassed nod. “How?”

Hinata scratched the back of his head, pushing his legs together as he tried curling together and minimize how much space he could take up so that the world itself maybe wouldn’t notice him and pass by him without embarrassing him further, “W-Well, you see -- Ugh!” He pointed to the T.V., sounding defeated. “You’ll eventually see…”

Kenma smiled gently, “Can’t wait, Shouyou.” However, the tone he held certainly wasn’t one of compassion, but one of sadistic amusement, seeing Hinata groan. “I’m assuming it’s gonna be great.”

**He continued droning onwards, until he bumped into Tsukishima’s left side, the taller boy accompanied by Yamaguchi. The tall blonde sneered, taking a moment to take off his headphones.**

**He mocked, sticking his nose up in the air while he spoke haughtily, “Whoops, sorry. You’re so small I couldn’t see you.” Yamaguchi quietly snickered beside him while Tsukishima took a good look at Hinata, as though he was trying to analyze the damage he’d done and whether or not he’d landed any really good hits.**

**Despite his efforts though, all that looked back at him was a husk, muttering like it was the only memory it had left, “I can’t goof up. I can’t goof up.”**

Bokuto guffawed, “I gotta tell ya, I thought you looked like a ghost earlier, but maybe you were the dang ghost! Did you see how startled he looked?!” He wheezed alongside Kuroo, who nodded heavily in agreement.

“Shouyou. It’s just a practice match,” Kenma quietly giggled, seeing how unbelievably seriously he was taking it. “It’s not the end of the world.”

Hinata whinged, “It’s not my fault! We were up against people who are in the top four! I didn’t know anything else about them…”

“Well, now you know that we can beat you, right?” Oikawa teased, Iwaizumi having some sort of fun seeing Hinata on the T.V. It was such a stark contrast from his encounters with the middle blocker, outside of the very first minutes of the practice game, that he was learning about him in a new light.

Was it one that Hinata would like to be seen in? Absolutely not.

**“What’s that all about?” Tsukishima muttered as he and Yamaguchi watched Hinata limp away, clearly distraught about the entire situation.**

**Yamaguchi shrugged, tone passive, “Who knows?”**

**Back to the club room, Kageyama opened the door to head out before Sugawara called him back, “Hey, Kageyama.”**

**“Hm?” The setter clicked his tongue, turning back to face Suga, who’d just now finished putting his jacket on.**

**Suga nodded to him, voice a bit more quiet than normal, “Don’t make any wisecracks that’ll put more pressure on him.” He could hear the sounds of Tanaka rambling in the background.**

**Kageyama’s eyes slightly widened, shoulders somewhat tensing, “Wisecracks?” As he put a hand on his chin, he thought heavily,** **_Have I ever made any wisecracks? I have no recollection whatsoever._ **

**The rest of the club room looked at him, either disappointed with him or impressed by his failing to realize anything. They all hit him with an odd look, Daichi looking more exasperated than ever.**

**A sudden thought popped up in all of their heads,** **_He has no self-awareness._ **

“Okay, seriously,” Kageyama built off of his own thoughts. “When have I ever made any wisecracks? I seriously didn’t see anything while we were watching.”

Akaashi bluntly asked, “Are you blind or deaf?” He gestured at the T.V. “We’ve watched, like, five episodes of this. You haven’t made a single wisecrack?”

Kageyama shook his head, his short hair following along with him as he shrugged earnestly, “Nope. I really can’t think of any.”

“So...you’re not being a total prick on purpose to Hinata?” Oikawa blinked; that was odd to say the least. If anything, he thought him being nice to Hinat was more of what he was unaware of at times.

“I don’t think it’s him being a total prick…” Hinata spoke up in his friend’s defense. “More like he’s emotionally constipated.” Of course, he couldn’t resist a few quips of his own.

“Sounds like stockholm syndrome,” Kuroo countered, recalling that one time he watched a Game Theory video and instantly thought he knew everything about it.

“Okay, but you hang out with Kenma,” Bokuto teased. “He doesn’t even talk to you unless he’s insulting you.”

“He’s not wrong,” Kenma agreed with a nod, pushing a little bit of his hair behind one of his ears as he ate another cookie.

**However, the moment of everyone’s opinion of Kageyama lowering quickly vanished the moment Tanaka exited the club room, likely traumatizing a schoolgirl who was simply carrying things in a basket walking along the club rooms who had seen him in his underwear only.**

“Okay, anything I thought about Tanaka was just wiped off the window,” Oikawa groaned at the sight. “I have to respect someone that shameless. I just have to.”

Iwaizumi snorted, “Yeah, there’s nobody else on this planet who’d do something like that so easily.”

**Tanaka howled, “You’re wearing my pants!” As if on cue, the pants that Hinata had taken began to sag, Kageyama bearing witness to the whole ordeal with an empty face.**

**However, his rage instantly subsided when the girl who’d definitely been scarred for life lectured him with an annoyed grunt, “What the hell are you doing, Tanaka? You pervert!” He shuddered at the anger, face turning a slight blueish hue.**

**She put a hand on her hip, basket clunking around a little in the other, “Are you serious? You’re the worst!” Tanaka sulked away back into the club room, learning the true weight of never being able to show his face in front of that girl again without some sort of episode coming to him.**

**As the day finally rounded out, Hinata finished past midnight with wide eyes, staring up at the ceiling in his rather empty room, buried under his blanket.**

“Ah, yes, the way most normally sleep,” Oikawa spoke as though he were a Planet Earth narrator.

“Do you sleep like that before every practice game?” Kenma wondered absentmindedly, though he didn’t expect a slight nod.

“Uh...kind of?” Hinata shyly admitted, scratching his right cheek as he put down his bottle of water. “It happens, like, half of the time. Usually, when we’re on the bus, it’s pretty obvious, but it usually wears off before we get to the game itself.”

“You’re crazy,” Kenma muttered. “I could never stand staying up for that long.” He awaited Kuroo’s rebuttal, which of course came.

“You pulled an all-nighter playing Borderlands 2 the night before we played Karasuno for our practice game!” He lectured like a tired parent, his tone hitting Kenma in a way that only amused the setter further.

“We still won, didn’t we?” Kenma countered, before turning to Hinata. “Your team lost to one that had me running on fumes, literally going over 24 hours without sleep.”

Hinata only fumed at that, earning a smirk from Kuroo and an eye roll from Kenma.

**He stared up at the ceiling with a burning passion, one that could cause impacts on the building in real life, and definitely not the hallucinations that Hinata was likely seeing from having his eyes open for so long.**

“That’s how you look when you play in a game,” Oikawa snickered. “You are literally more focused than ever during games. What are you focusing on now?”

“Definitely not sleep,” Akaashi mused as he plucked off another grape from the fruit bowl, popping it into his mouth quickly. “He would’ve focused himself asleep if he tried hard enough.”

**However, the glaring silence in his room was interrupted as he shoved his blanket off of him, “I can’t sleep!” He repeated it loudly over and over, as if he was throwing a tantrum to the point where the light in the hallway outside his room turned on, gentle footsteps softly pacing on the floor.**

**The footsteps eventually became louder, before Hinata’s door slid open, a smaller tuft of orange hair barely in the camera frame.**

**A cute, squeaky voice lectured Hinata, who’d fallen off his bed in frustration, “Nii-chan, you’re being too loud!” Hinata quietly apologized, though Natsu shut the door with as much force as an incredibly young child could, before stomping off to bed with a pout.**

“Wait, that’s your younger sister, right?” Kuroo furrowed his eyebrows, putting a hand on his chin like Kageyama had earlier. “I don’t remember ever hearing about her.”

“Really?” Hinata blinked, a little bit surprised. “‘I thought I told you guys about her!”

Kenma tapped his shoulder, explaining, “You gushed to me about how you wanted to be a great older brother to her. You didn’t tell anyone else.”

Kageyama nodded along, telling his side of the story, “Yeah, the only reason I know about her is because of the times I’ve slept over at your home. Other than that, you mainly mention her because you have to go home early sometimes to take care of her.”

**However, at Kageyama’s place, he’d been keeping his lights on, completely silent as he continued setting a volleyball softly to himself over and over again, probably for an ungodly amount of time that was unhealthy, especially considering how it was pretty much midnight. A dumbbell to the left of his bed, books that he’d likely never even opened at the foot of the bed, and a generally empty room stayed by him as he did so.**

**He set the ball once more, and landed in his hands. However, a thought invaded his mind, and he stopped for just a moment.**

**_Dark brown hair swept outwards. A sharp jaw, the person’s back facing Kageyama. The Kitagawa Daiichi uniform._ **

**Kageyama bit the inside of his cheek, swallowing his worry down.**

Akaashi internally shuddered. He hadn’t played against Kageyama, but from what he’d watched on the T.V, the first-year had skills that Akaashi clearly didn’t think he possessed himself. Practically speaking, he was a prodigy from any angle you looked.

For him to view Oikawa in such a high regard made Akaashi wonder what sort of insane skill the third-year setter had to make even Kageyama bow down to his skill.

Oikawa, however, only teased, “Wow, I must be even more amazing htan I thought I was, scaring Tobio-chan at night like I’m the boogeyman!”

Iwaizumi shook his head, looking at Kageyama in slight disappointment, “Look what you’ve done now. You’re making my job harder. Look. I can literally see his ego inflating in real time.”

**By the next day, though, Kageyama had gotten his worry out of his system. The clock on the front of the school read 3:30 p.m, right after school end, like the schedule had said.**

**“Line up!” Daichi called out, the team lining single-file in front of Takeda, before the team spoke up. “Let’s play!”**

**“Yep,” Takeda hummed, before everyone got on the bus.**

“Oh, no,” Kageyama cringed, nudging Hinata. “No.”

Hinata nodded, looking like he definitely wasn’t looking forward to it. Kenma took in a sharp inhale. Most of the things that’d happened to Hinata ended up in Kageyama’s amusement. This time, it looked like the setter genuinely did feel bad for him.

**As the wheels of the bus turned, skipping over pebbles and potholes that tax money had certainly not gone to, Tanaka chortled as he held out a pocky stick to Hinata, “Yo, Hinata, here. I’ll give you something to eat.”**

**He leaned over to face the first-year, only to see the nauseated look, “Yo, what’s that look on your face?”**

**Hinat only grumbled, trying to maintain his positive attitude, “I couldn’t get any sleep last night.” The bags under his eyes looked like they held weight outside of his body, a sort of weight you’d only feel lifting all the grocery bags in one trip because of personal pride.**

**He gulped, swallowing something, before whispering urgently to Tanaka, reaching out feebly to him, “The window...can I open the window?” His voice seemed raspy, like that of a corpse, or someone who literally hadn’t spoke for years trying to shout. Tanaka awkwardly shifted as Hinata crawled, before his eyes widened as Hinata’s cheeks filled.**

**He howled in agony, “Stop the bus! Stop the bus!”**

**_Oh no…_ ** **Daichi gulped, seeing the sight behind him.**

**_This is…_ ** **Suga pursed his lips together, trying to understand the situation.**

**_Worse than…_ ** **Kageyama’s jaw fell to the floor, mentally hissing.**

**_We expected!_ ** **Their panicked thoughts melded together, the disgusting sight of Hinata’s vomit on Tanaka’s pants covered up by a simple white, the contents of Hinata’s stomach too much for them to even want to register, while Hinata’s corpse-like body rested on the seats nearby.**

As the end credits rolled, Hinata slapped his hands on his cheeks to get him out of his slump, before whining anyways, “Why was this entire episode just making fun of me?!” His cheeks turned red from the impact, the outline of his hands sharp and quickly forming.

When he pouted, Kageyama patted him on the back, “At least you don’t puke like that anymore. Right?”

Hinata nodded, rolling his eyes, “Yeah, because it happens so often. Medicine doesn’t even work!”

Iwaizumi sighed, “Well, we’ll be getting to the practice game next, right? I’m pretty sure the focus won’t mainly be on you or Kageyama. Probably the game. Maybe Oikawa. Right?” He tried to get Hinata’s mind off his own puke, and frankly speaking, he was trying to get the fact that Hinata puked right before the game out of his mind.

Oikawa huffed, “Well, if the game takes place over two episodes, I probably won’t even show up in the next one.”

Akaashi suggested, “I know you said you puked up the medicine, right? Have you tried meditating or something else to calm your nerves?”

Hinata sighed, shaking his head though he didn’t like the thought of disappointing the incredibly polite yet taciturn setter, “I’d like to say it works, but I have too much energy to meditate normally.”

Bokuto put a hand on his chin, before smirking, “How about you try doing a workout before you have to leave home?! Get the energy outta you quick, so you can spend the bus ride really prepared. If you get out all that energy through pus-ups or something, that should help!”

Hinata furrowed his eyebrows, since he’d never really considered it. Kenma didn’t think it a bad idea either, even though he wouldn’t opt to move around so vigorously before a game himself.

Kuroo complimented the owl with a high-five, “Gotta say, maybe you do have good ideas sometimes.”

“Always do, bro. Always do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i cannot physically describe how bad i felt for hinata during this episode. chief i'd embarrass myself to death if i went through what hinata went through here. objectively, it's not even that bad but it seems so embarrassing to me.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry that the first chapter didn't start with them watching, but i thought a setup would be best so that there is some (even if it is minimal) plot cohesion.
> 
> see you in episode 1!


End file.
